NJ Legalizes Assisted Suicide As Gov. Murphy Signs Bill Into Law

New Jersey has legalized assisted suicide, enacting a law that will take effect Aug. 1.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation Friday that he says will allow terminally ill New Jersey adults to end their lives peacefully, with dignity, and at their own discretion.

The bill, which was sponsored by Democratic Assemblyman John Burzichelli and Senator Nick Scutari, makes New Jersey the eighth state to allow such end-of-life decisions with the assistance of medical professionals.

“Allowing residents with terminal illnesses to make end-of-life choices for themselves is the right thing to do,” said Murphy. “By signing this bill today, we are providing terminally ill patients and their families with the humanity, dignity, and respect that they so richly deserve at the most difficult times any of us will face."

The “Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act” permits terminally ill, adult patients residing in New Jersey to obtain and self-administer medication to end their lives peacefully and humanely, Murphy said.

A patient’s attending and consulting physicians must determine that the patient has a life expectancy of six months or less, has the capacity to make health care decisions, and is acting voluntarily, in order for the patient to obtain the medication, according to the Murphy administration.

Last month, the Assembly passed the bill by a 41-33 vote, while the Senate voted 21-16 in favor.

The bill contains a number of safeguards and procedures that lawmakers say would "ensure the integrity and safety of the process," including:

• The bill defines a "terminal disease" as an irreversible illness that has been medically confirmed and will result in a patient's death within six months.
• It would cover: an adult resident of New Jersey who is capable and has been determined by the patient's attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and has voluntarily expressed a wish to die.
• The bill would require patients suffering from a terminal disease to first verbally request a prescription from their attending physician, followed by a second verbal request at least 15 days later.
• The attending physician would have to offer the patient a chance to rescind the request.
• A consulting physician would then be called upon to certify the original diagnosis and reaffirm the patient is capable of making a decision.
• It would also require one request in writing signed by two witnesses. A valid request for medication must be signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two individuals who, in the patient's presence, attest that the patient is capable and is acting voluntarily to sign the request.
• Only the patient would be permitted to administer the drug to themselves. At least one of the witnesses must be a person who is not: 1) a relative of the patient; 2) entitled to any portion of the estate of the patient; 3) an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility where the patient is receiving treatment, or 4) the patient's physician.
• The bill requires that the patient's attending physician recommend that the patient participate in a consultation concerning additional treatment opportunities, palliative care, comfort care, hospice care, and pain control options, and provide the patient with a referral to a health care professional qualified to discuss these options.
• The attending physician would be required to document the recommendation in the patient's medical record, and indicate whether the patient chose to participate in the consultation, and whether the patient is receiving palliative, comfort or hospice care.

“Over the course of seven years, we’ve heard countless heartbreaking stories of terminally ill patients and their families yearning to make a personal choice that simply was not provided for under law,” said Burzichelli. “The choice for patients, who are critically ill and with a short life expectancy prescribed by their doctors, to determine their final day on this earth with dignity deserved honest and intellectual discussion."