AB-2598 Health care facilities: notification of next of kin

What happened

AB 2598’s retained proposal would require general acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to make a documented good-faith effort to contact known next of kin within 72 hours of death using available contact information. It also addresses bodies transferred to a hospital after death. The notification requirement can be met through a designated resident representative in the specified circumstances, or a person’s prior written instruction against next-of-kin notification. The proposed scheme does not treat moving a body alone as equivalent to notifying the required recipient.

When the specified conditions for public-administrator notice are met, notice would be due within two business days. The proposed 200 dollar daily penalties, capped at 50000 dollars for each described violation, use separate clocks: the failed reasonable next-of-kin attempt and, for administrator notice, the fifth business day after death. A disputed assessment can be challenged within 10 working days of notice. Deaths in CDCR custody have an express exclusion, and other facilities retain a different Probate Code notice rule. These proposed duties had not become law by this edition’s cutoff.

Why it matters

Hospitals need distinct contact, documentation and escalation steps rather than one general death-notification deadline.

Sources

• AB-2598 Health care facilities: notification of next of kin, bill historyOfficial · California Legislature · 2026-08-30 · Source review 2026-09-10
• AB-2598 Health care facilities: notification of next of kin, current bill text (09/03/26 - Enrolled)Official · California Legislature · 2026-09-03 · Source review 2026-09-10