Bill Text: NJ A637 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires health care facility staff to provide certain counseling following miscarriages and State registrar to establish certificate of birth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A637 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A637-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DAVID W. WOLFE
District 10 (Ocean)
Assemblyman GREGORY P. MCGUCKIN
District 10 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires health care facility staff to provide certain counseling following miscarriages and State registrar to establish certificate of birth.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning miscarriages and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The State registrar shall establish a certificate of birth following a miscarriage, as defined in section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, which shall contain the items listed on a form provided or approved by the State registrar pursuant to subsection c. of R.S.26:8-24, for a miscarriage occurring in this State. This certificate shall be offered to a parent who experiences a miscarriage.
b. The certificate shall be provided by the State Registrar upon the parent's written request, which may be transmitted to the State registrar directly by the parent or, at the parent's option, by a licensed health care professional on the parent's behalf.
c. The person who prepares a certificate pursuant to this subsection shall leave blank any references to the name of the intended child if the parent does not wish to provide a name.
d. The certificate of birth following a miscarriage shall be filed with the local registrar of the district in which the miscarriage occurred within three days following receipt by the State registrar of a request for the certificate pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
e. When a miscarriage occurring in this State has not been registered within one year after the date of the miscarriage, a certificate marked "delayed" may be filed and registered.
2. a. As used in this section, "miscarriage" means an unintended, intrauterine fetal death occurring in this State prior to a gestational period of 20 weeks.
b. The Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the State Board of Medical Examiners, the New Jersey Board of Nursing, the State Board of Psychological Examiners, and the State Board of Social Work Examiners, shall develop and prescribe by regulation comprehensive policies and procedures to be followed by health care facilities that provide care to a woman who experiences a miscarriage.
c. The Commissioner of Health shall require, as a condition of licensure, that each health care facility in the State that provides care to a woman who experiences a miscarriage adhere to the policies and procedures prescribed in this section. The policies and procedures shall include, at a minimum:
(1) guidelines to assess a family's level of awareness and knowledge regarding the miscarriage;
(2) the establishment of a bereavement checklist and an informational pamphlet to be given to a family experiencing a miscarriage that includes information about funeral and cremation options;
(3) training of physicians, nurses, psychologists, and social workers to ensure that information is provided to the woman and family experiencing a miscarriage in a sensitive manner, including information about what to expect, the availability of grief counseling, the opportunity to develop a plan of care that meets the family's social, religious, and cultural needs, and the possibility of experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety following the miscarriage;
(4) best practices to provide psychological and emotional support to the woman and family following a miscarriage, including, as applicable: referring to the intended child by name; offering the family the opportunity to cut the umbilical cord; offering the family the opportunity to hold the intended child with privacy and without time restrictions; and preparing a memory box with keepsakes, with provisions for retaining the keepsakes for one year if the family chooses not to take them at discharge;
(5) protocols to ensure coordinated visits to the family by a hospital staff trained to address the psychosocial needs of a family experiencing a miscarriage, provide guidance in the bereavement process, assist with completing any forms required in connection with the miscarriage, and offer the family the opportunity to meet with the hospital chaplain or other individual from the family's religious community; and
(6) guidelines for educating health care professionals and hospital staff on caring for families after a miscarriage.
d. The State Board of Medical Examiners and the New Jersey Board of Nursing shall require physicians and nurses, respectively, to adhere to the policies and procedures prescribed in this section.
3. The Commissioner of Health, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations as the commissioner determines necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.
4. This act shall take effect on the first day of the 13th month next following the date of enactment, but the Commissioner of Health may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the State Board of Medical Examiners, the New Jersey Board of Nursing, the State Board of Psychological Examiners, and the State Board of Social Work Examiners, to develop and prescribe by regulation comprehensive policies and procedures to be followed by health care facilities that provide care to a woman who experiences a miscarriage. "Miscarriage" is defined in the bill as an unintended, intrauterine fetal death occurring in this State prior to a gestational period of 20 weeks.
The policies and procedures are to include, at a minimum: 1) guidelines to assess a family's level of awareness and knowledge regarding the miscarriage; 2) the establishment of a bereavement checklist and pamphlet with information about funeral and cremation options; 3) training of physicians, nurses, psychologists, and social workers to ensure, at a minimum, that information is provided in a sensitive manner about what to expect, the availability of grief counseling, the opportunity to develop a plan of care that meets the family's social, religious, and cultural needs, and the possibility of experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety; 4) best practices to provide support to the family following a miscarriage; 5) protocols to ensure coordinated visits to the family by a hospital staff trained to address the psychosocial needs of the family, provide guidance in the bereavement process, assist with completing any forms required in connection with the miscarriage, and offer the family the opportunity to meet with the hospital chaplain or other individual from the family's religious community; and 6) guidelines for educating health care professionals and hospital staff on caring for families after a miscarriage.
The State Board of Medical Examiners and the New Jersey Board of Nursing are to require physicians and nurses to adhere to these policies and procedures.
The bill also requires the State Registrar to establish a certificate of birth following a miscarriage, which will be offered to parents who experience a miscarriage and provided upon written request.
