26:2H-139 Intentional failure to act, penalties, degree of crime.

11. a. A health care professional who intentionally fails to act in accordance with the requirements of this act is subject to discipline for professional misconduct pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1978, c.73 (C.45:1-21).

b. A health care institution that intentionally fails to act in accordance with the requirements of this act shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each offense. For the purposes of this subsection, each violation shall constitute a separate offense. The civil penalty shall be collected in a summary proceeding, brought in the name of the State in a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).

c. An emergency care provider subject to regulation by the Department of Health who intentionally fails to act in accordance with the requirements of this act is subject to such disciplinary measures as the commissioner deems necessary and within his statutory authority to impose.

d. A person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree:

(1) willfully concealing, canceling, defacing, obliterating, or withholding personal knowledge of a completed POLST form or a modification or revocation thereof, without the patient's consent;

(2) falsifying or forging a completed POLST form or a modification or revocation thereof of another person;

(3) coercing or fraudulently inducing the completion of a POLST form or a modification or revocation thereof; or

(4) requiring or prohibiting the completion of a POLST form or a modification or revocation thereof as a condition of coverage under any policy of health or life insurance or an annuity, or a public benefits program, or as a condition of the provision of health care.

e. The commission of an act identified in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subsection d. of this section, which results in the involuntary earlier death of a patient, shall constitute a crime of the first degree.

f. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to repeal any sanctions applicable under any other law.

L.2011, c.145, s.11; amended 2012, c.17, s.257.