Requires hospital to install and operate electronic monitoring device at request of incapacitated patient or patient's legal representative.

A1213

ASSEMBLY, No. 1213

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman ALEXANDER "AVI" SCHNALL

District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires hospital to install and operate electronic
monitoring device at request of incapacitated patient or patient's legal
representative.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

concerning voluntary use of electronic
monitoring devices in hospitals 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.� A hospital licensed pursuant
to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) shall be required to install and operate
an electronic monitoring device in the room of an incapacitated patient in
accordance with the provisions of this act if requested to do so by the patient
or the patient�s legal representative.� A hospital shall inform an
incapacitated patient and the patient's legal representative during the
patient�s admission to the hospital of the right to request the installation
and operation of an electronic monitoring device.�

���� b.��� A hospital may require a
patient or patient's legal representative who requests the installation of an
electronic monitoring device to make the request in writing to the facility.

���� c.��� A hospital shall not
refuse to admit an individual to the facility, or remove a patient from the
facility, because of a request to install an electronic monitoring device.

���� d.��� A hospital shall be
responsible for all costs associated with the installation of a requested
electronic monitoring device, including the purchase of the device and the
operation of the device for the entirety of the patient�s admission.

���� e.��� A hospital shall be
required to store all video footage recorded by a requested electronic
monitoring device, such that the hospital is able to provide a patient or the
patient�s legal representative with access to the video footage recorded in the
patient�s room up until the 60th day following the patient�s discharge from the
hospital.

���� f.���� The installation and
operation of an electronic monitoring device shall:

���� (1)� be noncompulsory and at
the election of the patient or the patient's legal representative;

���� (2)� be conducted within plain
view; and

���� (3)� protect the privacy
rights of other patients and visitors to the hospital, to the extent reasonably
possible; and in the case of a patient who shares a room with another patient,
be subject to the written consent of the other patient or that patient�s legal
representative to install and operate the electronic monitoring device in the
room.

���� g.��� A hospital may post a
notice on the door of an applicable patient's room that states an electronic
monitoring device is operating in the room.

���� h.��� This act shall be
implemented in accordance with all State and federal health information privacy
laws and regulations.�

���� i.���� As used in this act:

���� "Electronic monitoring
device" means a video surveillance camera, video telephone, or Internet
video surveillance device.

���� "Incapacitated"
means a patient who is unconscious, who is immobile, or who lacks sufficient
capacity to verbally communicate with hospital staff.

���� 2.��� A person who willfully,
and without the consent of a patient or the patient's legal representative,
hampers, obstructs, tampers with, or destroys an electronic monitoring device
or video footage recorded by an electronic monitoring device associated with a
request made under this act shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.

���� 3.��� The Commissioner of
Health shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative
Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to carry out the
purposes of this act.

���� 4.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of
enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill requires a hospital
licensed in the State to install and operate an electronic monitoring device in
the room of an incapacitated patient if requested to do so by the patient or
the patient�s legal representative.� Under the bill, "incapacitated"
means a patient who is unconscious, who is immobile, or who lacks sufficient
capacity to verbally communicate with hospital staff.� "Electronic
monitoring device" means a video surveillance camera, video telephone, or
Internet video surveillance device.

���� The bill requires a hospital
to:

���� 1)��� inform an incapacitated
patient and the patient's legal representative during the patient�s admission
of the patient's right to request an electronic monitoring device;

���� 2)��� cover all costs
associated with the electronic monitoring device; and

���� 3)��� store all video footage
recorded by a requested electronic monitoring device, such that the hospital is
able to provide a patient or the patient�s legal representative with access to
the video footage up until the 60th day following the patient�s discharge from
the hospital.

���� The hospital may require a
request for the installation of an electronic monitoring device to be made in
writing.� The hospital is prohibited from refusing to admit an individual to
the facility, or removing a patient from the facility, because of a request for
an electronic monitoring device.

���� Under the bill, the
installation and operation of an electronic monitoring device must be conducted
within plain view; and protect the privacy rights of other patients and
visitors, to the extent reasonably possible.� In the case of a patient who
shares a room with another patient, the use of an electronic monitoring device
is subject to the written consent of the other patient or that patient�s legal
representative. �Additionally, a hospital may post a notice stating that a room
is being monitored by an electronic monitoring device.� The provisions of the
bill are to be implemented in accordance with all State and federal health
information privacy laws and regulations.�

���� Finally, the bill provides
that a person who willfully, and without the consent of a patient or the
patient�s legal representative, hampers, obstructs, tampers with, or destroys
an electronic monitoring device or the accompanying video footage is guilty of
a crime of the third degree (punishable by a term of imprisonment between three
to five years, a fine not exceeding $15,000, or both).