A lateral junction diode device includes a substrate having at least a semiconductor surface layer. A depletion-mode LDMOS device is in the semiconductor surface layer including a source, drain, and a gate above a gate dielectric, and a channel region under the gate on the gate dielectric. A drift region is between the channel region and the drain, wherein the drain also provides a cathode for the lateral junction diode device. An embedded diode includes a second cathode and an anode that is shared with the device. The embedded diode is junction isolated by an isolation region located between the anode and the source. The anode and isolation region are directly connected to the gate and the second cathode is directly connected to the source.