Department of Veterans Affairs March 9, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document proposes to amend the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical regulations on informed consent by making two substantive changes. We propose to extend the period of time during which a signed consent form remains valid from 30 to 60 days and eliminate the requirement that a third party witness the patient or surrogate and practitioner signing the consent form, except in those circumstances where the patient or surrogate signs with an ``X'' due to a debilitating illness or disability, i.e., significant physical impairment and/or difficulty in executing a signature due to an underlying health condition(s), or is unable to read or write.