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TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Weinberg which would require county medical examiners’ offices to reach out to the family members of patients who die in long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals and other care settings in order to get all pertinent information to conduct a thorough and complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the patient’s death was approved by the Assembly today by a vote of 79-0, receiving final legislative approval.

“When a family loses a loved one, it’s always tragic,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen, and Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “However, when that family has questions about the last hours of their loved one in one of the State’s long-term care facilities or psychiatric hospitals, they deserve answers. This bill allows family members to share information that they feel is important to a medical examiner’s investigation, to ensure that they are guaranteed whatever justice might be achieved in the face of their loved one’s death.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Weinberg which would require county medical examiners’ offices to reach out to the family members of patients who die in long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals and other care settings in order to get all pertinent information to conduct a thorough and complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the patient’s death was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 38-0.

“It’s always a tragic situation when family members have to mourn the passing of one of their own who has been taken too soon,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen, and Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “However, when those loved ones are remanded to the care of a State psychiatric hospital or long-term care facility, the State has a responsibility to tread very carefully, in order to make sure that the individual’s death isn’t symptomatic of a larger institutional problem. In those instances, the county medical examiner has a responsibility to reach out to the next of kin to uncover any relevant information surrounding the individual’s untimely death.”