ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 3028
(By Delegates Perdue, Fleischauer, Marshall,
Williams, Hatfield, Walters, Guthrie,
Lawrence, Ellington and Pasdon
)
[Passed March 12, 2011; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §48-25A-1, §48-25A-2 and §48-25A-3 of
the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
expanding the responsibilities of the Maternal Mortality
Review Team to include infant mortality reviews; and renaming
it the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-25A-1, §48-25A-2 and §48-25A-3 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 25A. INFANT AND MATERNAL MORTALITY REVIEW TEAM.
§48-25A-1. Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds that there is a need for a process to
study the causes of infant and maternal deaths. It has been found
that comprehensive studies indicate that maternal mortalities are
more extensive than first appear on death certificates.
The Legislature finds that more extensive studies of infant
mortalities and maternal mortalities would enable a more developed
plan to avoid these deaths in the future.
§48-25A-2. Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team.
(a) The Maternal Mortality Review Team established under the
Office of Maternal Child and Family Health is continued and renamed
the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team. The Infant and
Maternal Mortality Review Team is a multidisciplinary team created
to review the deaths of all infants and women who die during
pregnancy, at the time of birth or within one year of the birth of
a child.
(b) The Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team is to
consist of the following members, appointed by the Governor:
(1) The Director of the Office of Maternal Child and Family
Health, who is to serve as the chairperson of the Infant and
Maternal Mortality Review Team and is responsible for calling and
coordinating all meetings;
(2) The Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health or a
designee;
(3) The Chief Medical Examiner in the Bureau for Public Health
or a designee;
(4) The Director of the Division of Vital Statistics or a
designee;
(5) Representation from each of the three medical schools in
the state;
(6) The Director of Obstetrics, the Director of the Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit and the Director of Pediatrics at each of the
tertiary care hospitals in the state;
(7) One representative of the West Virginia State Medical
Association;
(8) One representative of the West Virginia Nurses
Association;
(9) One representative of the West Virginia Society of
Osteopathic Medicine;
(10) One representative of West Virginia Academy of Family
Physicians;
(11) One representative of the West Virginia Chapter of the
American College of Nurse Midwives;
(12) One representative of the West Virginia Chapter of the
American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology;
(13) One representative of the West Virginia Chapter of the
American Academy of Pediatrics;
(14) The Director of the Child Fatality Review Team; and
(15) Any additional person that the chair of the team
determines is needed on a particular case being considered.
(c) Each member serves for a term of five years. Of the
members of the commission first appointed, one shall be appointed
for a term ending June 30, 2009, and one each for terms ending one,
two, three and four years thereafter.
(d) Members of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team shall, unless sooner removed, continue to serve until their
respective terms expire and until their successors have been
appointed and have qualified.
(e) An appointment of a physician, whether for a full term or
to fill a vacancy, is to be made by the Governor from among three
nominees selected by the West Virginia State Medical Association or
the organization to be represented on the team. When an
appointment is for a full term, the nomination is to be submitted
to the Governor not later than eight months prior to the date on
which the appointment is to become effective. In the case of an
appointment to fill a vacancy, the nominations are to be submitted
to the Governor within thirty days after the request for the
nomination has been made by the Governor to the chairperson or
president of the organization. When an association fails to submit
to the Governor nominations for the appointment in accordance with
the requirements of this section, the Governor may make the
appointment without nominations.
(f) Each member of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review
Team shall serve without additional compensation and may not be
reimbursed for any expenses incurred in the discharge of his or her
duties under the provisions of this article.
§48-25A-3. Responsibilities of the Infant and Maternal Mortality
Review Team
.
(a) The Bureau for Public Health in consultation with the
Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team shall, pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a, promulgate
rules applicable to the following:
(1) The standard procedures for the establishment, formation
and conduct of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team; and
(2) The protocols for the review of infant and maternal
mortalities.
(b) The Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team shall:
(1) Review deaths of all infants and of all women who die
during pregnancy, at the time of birth or within one year of the
birth of a child;
(2) Establish the trends, patterns and risk factors;
(3) Provide statistical analysis regarding the causes of
infant and maternal fatalities in West Virginia; and
(4) Promote public awareness of the incidence and causes of
infant and maternal fatalities, including recommendations for their
reduction.
(c) The Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team shall submit
an annual report to the Governor and to the Legislature concerning
its activities and the incidents of infant and maternal fatalities
within the state. The report is due annually on December 1. The
report is to include statistics setting forth the number of infant
and maternal fatalities, identifiable trends in infant and maternal
fatalities in the state, including possible causes, if any, and
recommendations to reduce the number of preventable infant and
maternal fatalities in the state. The report is to also include the number of infant and mothers whose deaths have been determined
to have been unexpected or unexplained.
(d) The Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team, in the
exercise of its duties as defined in this section, may not:
(1) Call witnesses or take testimony from individuals involved
in the investigation of an infant or maternal fatality;
(2) Contact a family member of the deceased infant or mother,
except if a member of the team is involved in the investigation of
the death and must contact a family member in the course of
performing his or her duties outside of the team; or
(3) Enforce any public health standard or criminal law or
otherwise participate in any legal proceeding, except if a member
of the team is involved in the investigation of the death or
resulting prosecution and must participate in a legal proceeding in
the course of performing in his or her duties outside of the team.
(e) Proceedings, records and opinions of the Infant and
Maternal Mortality Review Team are confidential, in accordance with
section one, article seven, chapter forty-nine of this code, and
are not subject to discovery, subpoena or introduction into
evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding. Nothing in this
subsection is to be construed to limit or restrict the right to
discover or use in any civil or criminal proceeding anything that
is available from another source and entirely independent of the
proceedings of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team.
(f) Members of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team may not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding
information presented in or opinions formed as a result of a
meeting of the team. Nothing in this subsection prevents a member
of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Review Team from testifying to
information obtained independently of the team or which is public
information.