N.J.S.A. 26:2H-132.1 — End-of-life care public awareness campaign.

26:2H-132.1 End-of-life care public awareness campaign. 1. a. The Commissioner of Health shall establish a public awareness campaign to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making in relation to end-of-life care. b. The commissioner, in establishing the public awareness campaign, shall develop outreach efforts and provide information and educational materials to the general public on various end-of-life care topics including, but not limited to: (1) how to effectively conduct advance care planning conversations with family members, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and other individuals involved in a patient's care, regarding personal goals, preferences, and the type of care desired during the final stages of the patient's life ; (2) how community leaders and members can appropriately, and in an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically sensitive way, facilitate community-wide discussions regarding advance care planning and end-of-life care; (3) definitions, procedures, and other information related to advance directives, established pursuant to P.L.1991, c.201 (C.26:2H-53 et seq.); (4) the differences between the two types of advance directives, namely proxy directives and instructive directives; (5) the importance of having an advance directive, or advance directives, and the differences between advance directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms; (6) definitions, procedures, and other information related to POLST forms, established pursuant to P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-129 et seq.); (7) standardized and approved definitions of, and differences between, palliative care, hospice care, comfort care, and other end-of-life-care terms; and (8) any other topics or matters related to advance care planning and end-of-life care as the commissioner may deem necessary. c. Information provided under the public awareness campaign shall be disseminated using ethnically, culturally, and linguistically appropriate means, in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity and sensitivity for ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences. Where feasible and appropriate, the information shall be made available in a variety of languages. d. As necessary, the commissioner shall partner with, and expand upon, community-based initiatives and training programs that educate the general public on advance care planning and end-of-life care. L.2019, c.315, s.1.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 26:2H-132.1, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.