Health care facilities: notification of next of kin

The law creates a documented family-notification duty and financial penalties for facilities that fail to notify relatives or, when required, the county public administrator.

What the law does ​

• Requires hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to make a documented, good-faith effort within 72 hours to contact known next of kin using available phone, voicemail, text, or email information.
• Allows skilled nursing facilities to satisfy the requirement by notifying the resident representative or transferring the body to a hospital, and honors a patient's written instruction not to notify next of kin.
• Requires notice to the county public administrator within two business days if no next of kin can be located after a reasonable attempt, or if an alternative notification rule applies.
• Requires facilities to give the public administrator available identifying and next-of-kin information when county notice is required.
• Imposes civil penalties of $200 per day, up to $50,000, for failing to notify known next of kin or timely notify the public administrator.
• Excludes deaths of people in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Who it affects ​

• General acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.
• Patients' known relatives, including relatives identified through the patient, a representative, or the patient's belongings.
• County public administrators.

Context ​

Other health facilities and board-and-care facilities must continue to immediately notify the county public administrator when a person dies without known next of kin.