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Executive Summary
The New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act (P.L. 2019, c. 59) permits an
attending physician to write a prescription for medication that would enable a qualified
terminally ill patient to end his or her life. This Act was approved April 12, 2019 and went into
effect August 1, 2019.
The Act defines “terminally ill” as “the terminal stage of an irreversibly fatal illness, disease, or
condition with a prognosis, based upon reasonable medical certainty, of a life expectancy of six
months or less. The Act defines an “attending physician” as a “physician who has primary
responsibility for the care of the patient and treatment of a patient’s terminal disease.”
The Act requires a qualified terminally ill patient to be a capable adult resident of New Jersey
who has been determined to be terminally ill by his or her attending physician and a consulting
physician. A patient can obtain a prescription for medication to end his or her life only if he or
she has made an informed decision. A request for medication must be made twice orally and
once in writing. The oral requests must be separated by at least 15 days. The written request
would have to be signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two people who attest
that the patient is capable and acting voluntarily. One of these witnesses would have to be a
person who is not:
- Related to the patient;
- Entitled to any portion of the patient’s estate;
- An owner, operator, employer, or resident of a health care facility at which the patient
is receiving medical treatment; or
- The patient’s attending physician
At the time of the initial oral request, an attending physician would have to recommend that the
patient take part in consultations on treatment opportunities. At the time of the second oral
request, the attending physician must offer the patient the opportunity to rescind the request. At
least 15 days would have to elapse between the initial oral request and the writing of the
prescription and 48 hours would have to elapse between a patient signing the written request and
the writing of the prescription. A consulting physician must also confirm the diagnosis and that
the patient is capable and acting voluntarily. If indicated, the patient may also be referred to a
psychiatrist, psychologist, or clinical social worker to determine whether the patient is capable.
The attending physician is required to dispense medications directly to the patient or to contact a
pharmacist and transmit the prescription to the pharmacist. A pharmacist may only dispense
medications directly to the patient, the attending physician, or an identified agent of the patient.
Medications cannot be dispensed to the patient by mail or other form of courier.