New Jersey

Status of Medical Aid in Dying

Medical aid in dying was enacted in New Jersey on August 1, 2019.

On January 9, 2024, Assemblymember Herb Conaway introduced Bill A1880, which waives or reduces the waiting period between requests if the person is not expected to survive that time frame. The bill was referred to the Assembly Health Committee. A summary of the bill can be found here.

Threats to the law: A407, aimed at repealing the Medical Aid in Dying Act and A406, which makes it a crime of the first degree to coerce a patient to request medical aid in dying or forge a patient’s request for medical aid in dying were both introduced this session but neither have moved in committee.

New Jersey Death with Dignity is a 501c3 organization that provides services, education, and end-of-life advocacy

Write Your Legislator

We need to make it clear to lawmakers: people deserve options at the end of life. Click here to contact your lawmaker today.
Find Your Legislators

Sign Up To Volunteer

Volunteers are crucial to our work. Make an impact on your community and be an agent of change as a Compassion & Choices volunteer.
Sign Up Now

Compassion & Choices Events

Connect with Us
Browse our upcoming events nationwide and in your area.

Polling Data

By more than a 2-to-one margin (63% to 29%) of New Jersey residents feel that allowing doctors to legally prescribe lethal drugs to help terminally ill patients end their own lives should be an end-of-life option in the state. See more polling data.

Access New Jersey's form at CaringInfo

Find free advance directives and instructions for each state that can be opened as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file
Get Started

New Jersey Stories

Latest New Jersey News

Updated Introduction to Medical Aid in Dying State Packets
August 7, 2024

Our Introduction to Medical Aid in Dying state packets help explain the medical aid in dying process in jurisdictions where it is authorized*. Compassion & Choices updated the packets to be the most comprehensive resource for those wanting to understand or use medical aid-in-dying laws.

Read More
NJ Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Lawsuit Seeking to Overturn Aid-in-Dying Law
February 6, 2024

  Ruling ends five-year legal battle that briefly suspended law in 2019, harming dying patients. Compassion & Choices appreciates the New Jersey Supreme Court for rejecting an appeal of a state Appellate Court ruling issued in June 2022 affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s 2019 medical aid-in-dying law. The New Jersey law…

Read More
Compassion & Choices Files Lawsuit Over New Jersey Residency Rule
September 23, 2023

Compassion & Choices filed a federal lawsuit August 29 on behalf of cancer patients in Delaware and Pennsylvania and two New Jersey doctors asserting the residency mandate in New Jersey’s medical aid-in-dying law violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment. The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, to prohibit state…

Read More
Médicos de Nueva Jersey, Delaware y Pacientes de Pensilvania Presentan Demanda Impugnando Mandato de Residencia en Ley de Ayuda Médica para Morir de Nueva Jersey
September 1, 2023

Compassion & Choices presentó el martes por la tarde una demanda federal en nombre de pacientes de Delaware y Pensilvania que padecen cáncer y asimismo, en nombre de dos médicos de Nueva Jersey, afirmando que el mandato de residencia de la ley de ayuda médica para morir de Nueva Jersey viola la garantía de igualdad…

Read More
NJ Doctors, DE, PA Patients File Lawsuit Challenging Residency Mandate in NJ Medical Aid-in-Dying Law
August 30, 2023

Compassion & Choices filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday afternoon on behalf of cancer patients in Delaware and Pennsylvania and two New Jersey doctors asserting the residency mandate in New Jersey’s medical aid-in-dying law violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment. The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, to prohibit state…

Read More
NJ Appeals Court Upholds Lower Court’s Dismissal of Lawsuit Seeking to Overturn Aid-in-Dying Law
June 13, 2022

Plaintiffs’ Last Legal Option Is to Appeal Ruling to Supreme Court Compassion & Choices praised the New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Court for a ruling on Friday affirming the lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s 2019 medical aid-in-dying law based on constitutional and religious objections. Compassion & Choices submitted an amicus brief in the…

Read More
New Jersey Reports 50 State Residents Received Aid-in-Dying Prescriptions in 2021
June 9, 2022

The New Jersey Department of Health has released a report showing 50 state residents received prescriptions authorized by the state’s Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, and 45 people took the medication, representing .06% of the state’s total deaths of 84,072 people in 2021. In comparison, 33 terminally ill New Jersey residents received prescriptions for medical…

Read More
Compassion & Choices
8156 S Wadsworth Blvd #E-162
Littleton, CO 80128

Mail contributions directly to:
Compassion & Choices Gift Processing Center
PO Box 485
Etna, NH 03750

candid seal platinum 2024