Anatomical gift act · West Virginia
In West Virginia you can refuse to donate by signing a record, in your will, or, during a terminal illness or injury, by telling at least two adults, one of whom has no interest in the decision. If you sign it yourself, you do not need witnesses. Once you have refused and not taken it back, no one else can donate your body or any part of it. W. Va. Code § 16-19-7.
If you came here to get off the registry
Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. West Virginia law treats a revocation and a refusal as two different things, and only the refusal settles it.
A revocation withdraws the gift you made. It does not stop anyone else from making the gift for you. Only a refusal does that, and West Virginia requires one to be signed. Until you sign one, the decision is still open to someone else.
Both provisions are quoted in full below, from West Virginia’s own code.
What West Virginia asks
Refusal to make anatomical gift; effect of refusal · Preclusive effect of anatomical gift, amendment, or revocation
Quoted from West Virginia’s enacted code, in full and unedited.
How a refusal is made (a)
An individual may express his or her refusal to make an anatomical gift of his or her body or body parts by: (1) A record signed by the individual. If the individual is physically unable to sign, another person acting at the direction of the individual may sign if the refusal: (A) Is witnessed and signed by at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness, at the request of the individual; and (B) Contains a statement that it has been signed and witnessed as provided in paragraph (A) of this subdivision; (2) The individual's will, regardless of whether the will is admitted to probate or invalidated after the individual's death; or (3) During a terminal illness or injury of the individual, any form of communication made by the individual addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness.
W. Va. Code § 16-19-7
What an unrevoked refusal does (c)
Except as otherwise provided in section eight of this article, in the absence of an express, contrary indication set forth in the refusal, an individual's unrevoked refusal to make an anatomical gift of his or her body or part bars all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part.
W. Va. Code § 16-19-7
A revocation is not a refusal (c)
A revocation of an anatomical gift by the donor or by another individual who is authorized to act on behalf of the donor under any section of this article, is not a refusal. Following the revocation, the donor, or any person authorized by any section of this article to act on behalf of the donor before the donor's death, or any person authorized to act on behalf of the decedent after the decedent's death, may subsequently make an anatomical gift of the body or part thereof.
W. Va. Code § 16-19-8
You tell us your state, we show you what it asks for before you sign, and your page names the state you signed in. Your signed document is what carries legal weight. We host it and make it findable.