Bill Text: NJ A5262 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Requires clinical laboratories to test for patient blood type and Rh factor and report information to patient.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-12-04 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A5262 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2016-A5262-Introduced.html

ASSEMBLY, No. 5262

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

217th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED DECEMBER 4, 2017

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  ANNETTE QUIJANO

District 20 (Union)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires clinical laboratories to test for patient blood type and Rh factor and report information to patient.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Act concerning blood specimen testing by clinical laboratories and supplementing P.L.1975, c.166 (C.45:9-42.26 et seq.).

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    The director of a clinical laboratory licensed in this State pursuant to P.L.1975, c.166 (C.45:9-42.26 et seq.) shall ensure that when the laboratory tests a blood specimen for any clinical purpose, the laboratory shall also test the specimen to determine the patient's blood type and Rh factor and report the results to the patient and, if applicable, the health care professional who ordered the test. 

 

     2.    The Commissioner of Health shall, in consultation with the Public Health Council and in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt any rules and regulations as the commissioner deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill requires that clinical laboratories, when testing a blood specimen for any clinical purpose, also test the specimen for the patient's blood type and Rh factor and report this information to the patient. 

     It is the sponsor's belief that members of the public who know their blood type will know if their blood type is useful when a public call for donations for their type is made.  They will also be better able to avoid medical complications if they receive a blood transfusion of an incompatible blood type.  Pregnant women should also know their blood type in order to know the risks of incompatibility between the woman's and her baby's blood, which can result in serious illness for the baby.

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