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79R7289 DLF-F
By: West, Royce S.B. No. 1183
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to fetal and infant mortality review; imposing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 8, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 674 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 674. FETAL AND INFANT FATALITY REVIEW
Sec. 674.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Decedent" means a stillborn fetus or a deceased
infant, including an infant that died as a result of premature
birth.
(2) "Health care provider" means any health care
practitioner or facility that provides medical evaluation or
treatment, including mental health evaluation or treatment.
(3) "Infant" means a child younger than one year of
age.
(4) "Local health authority" means a practicing
physician who acts as:
(A) a municipal or county health authority;
(B) a director of a local health department or
public health district; or
(C) a regional director of a public health
region.
(5) "Review" means a reexamination of information
regarding a decedent from relevant agencies, professionals, health
care providers, and the family of the decedent.
(6) "Review team" means the fetal and infant mortality
review team.
(7) "Stillborn fetus" means a fetus that has suffered
fetal death occurring after at least 20 completed weeks of
gestation.
Sec. 674.002. REVIEW TEAM. (a) A fetal and infant
mortality review team may be established only:
(1) by a local health authority or by the Department of
State Health Services; or
(2) under a contract or in accordance with a
memorandum of agreement with a local health authority or the
Department of State Health Services.
(b) Local health authorities for two or more adjacent
counties or municipalities may join to establish a joint review
team.
(c) A review team must be composed of culturally diverse
members representing multiple disciplines, including professionals
and representatives of agencies that provide services or community
resources for families in the community and community
representatives. The review team may include:
(1) a physician;
(2) a nurse or nurse practitioner;
(3) a county attorney or a designee of a county
attorney;
(4) a representative of a school district;
(5) a representative of the local health department;
(6) a forensic pathologist;
(7) a pediatrician;
(8) an obstetrician;
(9) a mental health professional;
(10) a representative from a local hospital;
(11) a local registrar of births and deaths;
(12) a person working in a supervisory position in
local administration of the state Medicaid program;
(13) a person working with local implementation of the
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and
Children;
(14) an educator;
(15) a pastoral counselor;
(16) a member of the health committee of a chamber of
commerce; and
(17) other community representatives.
(d) Members of a review team may select additional members
according to the resources of the review team and its needs.
(e) The review team shall select a presiding officer from
its members.
Sec. 674.003. PURPOSE AND POWERS AND DUTIES OF REVIEW TEAM.
(a) The purpose of a review team is to improve the health and
well-being of women, infants, and families and to reduce racial
disparities in the rates of and the overall rates of fetal and
infant mortality.
(b) For a death or fetal death subject to review, the review
team shall collect information relating to the death of the
decedent, including medical, dental, and mental health care records
or information, autopsy reports, social services records, and other
pertinent records related to the decedent and the mother of the
decedent.
(c) Before review at a meeting of the review team,
identifying information relating to the decedent and the decedent's
family shall be removed from information collected under Subsection
(b) and a summary of the information shall be prepared for
consideration of the review team.
(d) The review team shall:
(1) compile statistics of fetal and infant mortality;
(2) analyze the preventable causes of fetal and infant
mortality; and
(3) recommend measures to prevent fetal and infant
mortality to a community action team formed for this purpose or to
state or local governmental officials or other appropriate members
of the community.
Sec. 674.004. GOVERNMENTAL UNIT. A review team is a
governmental unit for purposes of Chapter 101, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code. A review team is a unit of local government under
that chapter.
Sec. 674.005. MEETINGS. (a) Meetings of a review team are
closed to the public and are not subject to Chapter 551, Government
Code.
(b) A member of a review team participating in the review of
a death or fetal death, and any person employed by or acting in an
advisory capacity to the review team and who provides counsel or
services to the review team, are immune from civil or criminal
liability arising from information presented in a review team
meeting or recommendations resulting from the meeting.
Sec. 674.006. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO REVIEW TEAM.
(a) A review team may request information regarding a decedent or
the decedent's mother as necessary to carry out the review team's
purpose and duties, including any information described by Section
674.003(b).
(b) On the request of the review team, a health care
provider or other custodian of the requested information shall
provide the information to the review team. The information shall
be provided without the authorization of the decedent's parent,
guardian, or other representative.
(c) A health care provider or other person who provides
information to a review team is not subject to a civil action for
damages or other relief as a result of having provided the
information. This subsection does not apply if the information
provided was false and the health care provider or other person knew
or had reason to know that the information was false.
Sec. 674.007. CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS; PRIVILEGE. (a)
Information is confidential for purposes of this chapter if the
disclosure of the information would compromise the privacy of the
decedent or the decedent's family. Confidential information
includes any information pertaining to the fatality of the
decedent.
(b) Confidential information that is acquired by the review
team and that permits the identification of an individual or health
care provider is privileged and may not be disclosed to any person
except to the extent necessary to carry out the purposes of the
review team. Information that may not be disclosed under this
subsection includes:
(1) names and addresses of the decedent or decedent's
family;
(2) services received by the decedent or the
decedent's family;
(3) the social and economic condition of the decedent
or the decedent's family;
(4) medical, dental, and mental health care
information related to the decedent or the decedent's family,
including diagnoses, conditions, diseases, or disability; and
(5) the identity of health care providers that
provided services to the decedent or the decedent's family.
(c) Review team work product and information obtained by a
review team, including files, records, reports, records of
proceedings, recommendations, meeting notes, records of
interviews, statements, and memoranda are confidential and are not
subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code. This
subsection does not prevent a review team from releasing
information described by Subsection (d) or (e).
(d) Information is not confidential under this section if
the information is general information that cannot be connected
with any specific individual, case, or health care provider, such
as:
(1) total expenditures made for specified purposes;
(2) the number of families served by particular health
care providers or agencies;
(3) aggregated data on social and economic conditions;
(4) medical data and information related to health
care services that does not include any identifying information
relating to a decedent or the decedent's family; and
(5) other statistical information.
(e) A review team may publish statistical studies and
research reports based on information that is confidential under
this section provided that the information published may not
identify a decedent or the decedent's family and may not include any
information that could be used to identify a decedent or the
decedent's family.
(f) A review team shall adopt and follow practices and
procedures to ensure that information that is confidential under
this section is not disclosed in violation of this section.
Sec. 674.008. IMMUNITY FROM SUBPOENA AND DISCOVERY. (a)
Review team work product and information obtained by a review team,
including files, records, reports, records of proceedings,
recommendations, meeting notes, records of interviews, statements,
and memoranda, are privileged, are not subject to subpoena or
discovery, and may not be introduced into evidence in any civil or
criminal proceeding against a mother of a decedent or a health care
provider.
(b) A document or other information that is otherwise
available from another source is not protected from subpoena,
discovery, or introduction into evidence under Subsection (a)
solely because the document or other information was presented
during a meeting of a review team or because a record of the
document or other information is maintained by the review team.
Sec. 674.009. UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE BY REVIEW TEAM
MEMBER; OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the person is a
member of a review team and the person knowingly:
(1) discloses confidential information in violation
of Section 674.007; or
(2) inspects confidential information without
authority granted in accordance with procedures established by the
review team.
(b) An offense under Subsection (a) is a Class B
misdemeanor.
Sec. 674.010. CIVIL ACTION FOR UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE. A
person aggrieved by the disclosure of information in violation of
Section 674.007 may bring an action against the person who made the
disclosure for damages, court costs, and attorney's fees.
Sec. 674.011. IMMUNITY. Except as specifically provided by
Section 647.010, a member of a review team is not liable for damages
to a person for an action taken or a recommendation made within the
scope of the functions of the review team if the member acts without
malice and in the reasonable belief that the action or
recommendation is warranted by the facts known to the review team
member.
Sec. 674.012. INAPPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. This chapter
does not apply to disclosure of records pertaining to voluntary or
therapeutic termination of pregnancy, and those records may not be
disclosed under this chapter.
SECTION 2. Sections 264.501(3) and (8), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(3) "Child" means a person at least one year of age but
younger than 18 years of age.
(8) "Preventable death" means a death that may have
been prevented by reasonable medical, social, legal,
psychological, or educational intervention. The term includes the
death of a child from:
(A) intentional or unintentional injuries;
(B) medical neglect;
(C) lack of access to medical care; and
(D) neglect and reckless conduct, including
failure to supervise and failure to seek medical care[; and
[(E) premature birth associated with any factor
described by Paragraphs (A) through (D)].
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
264.501, Family Code, applies only to a review commenced under
Subchapter F, Chapter 264, Family Code, on or after the effective
date of this Act. A review commenced under Subchapter F, Chapter
264, Family Code, before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law as it exists immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and that law is continued in effect for this purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.