This past November 19, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed into law a bill that for the first time would require license suspension or revocation of certain health care professionals and medical waste facilities, generators, and transporters for illegal or improper medical waste disposal. The law went into effect immediately.
The new law provides that if a healthcare professional, facility, generator, or transporter is found guilty of willful illegal or improper disposal of regulated medical waste, then the violator faces suspension or revocation of its license.
A healthcare professional includes doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, acupuncturists and veterinarians. Regulated medical waste is broadly defined to include, among other things, blood vials, discarded live and attenuated vaccines, waste human blood and products of blood, sharps that have been used in patient care or in medical research, hypodermic needles, syringes, Pasteur pipettes, broken glass, scalpel blades, and contaminated animal carcasses.
If you have questions about proper medical waste disposal or have other legal needs, please contact us.