Assisted suicide became legal in New Jersey from 1 August 2019.
The Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act is essentially modelled on the Oregon and Washington laws.
Minimal reporting
Section 13 of the Act requires an annual statistical report to be issued based on reports from attending physicians. The Commissioner of Health is empowered to make regulations as to the documentation required following the death of a person who has been prescribed a lethal substance under this Act.
The 2019 Data Summary indicates that between 1 August 2019 and 31 December 2019 twelve cases of people dying after being prescribed a lethal dose under the Act were reported. In 2020 33 cases of people dying after being prescribed a lethal dose under the Act were reported. In 2021 50 cases were reported. In 2022, 91 cases were reported. In 2023, 101 cases were reported.
In 2024, 122 cases were reported, representing 0.16% of all deaths in new Jersey.
Nine different experimental lethal cocktails were reported as used in 2022. In 2024 for 115 out of 122 people the lethal cocktail involved “Morphine, Diazepam, Phenobarbital, Amitriptyline, Digoxin, Zofran and Reglan”.
The 122 people who died from ingesting a lethal substance prescribed under the Act were prescribed the lethal substance by just 11 medical practitioners.
h the physician, time between first request and ingestion of the lethal dose, time between ingestion of the lethal dose and unconsciousness or time between ingestion of the lethal dose and death.
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