22a-244. Same; activation of board to investigate; access to records; subpoena power; report issued; disclosure of conclusions.
22a-244
22a-244. Same; activation of board to investigate; access to records;subpoena power; report issued; disclosure of conclusions.(a) Within 72 hours after receipt of notification from acoroner pursuant to K.S.A. 22a-242, the chairperson of the statereview board mayactivate the board to investigate and make a writtenreport regarding the death.
(b) The state review boardshall have access to all law enforcementinvestigative information regarding the death; any autopsy records andcoroner's investigative records relating to the death; any medical records ofthe child; and any records of the department of social and rehabilitationservices or any other social service agency which has provided services to thechild or the child's family within three years preceding the child's death.
(c) The state review board may apply to the district court for the issuanceof, and the district court may issue, a subpoena to compel the production ofany books, records or papers relevant to the cause of any death beinginvestigated by the board. Any books, records or papers received by the boardpursuant to the subpoena shall be regarded as confidential and privilegedinformation and not subject to disclosure.
(d) The state review board's report shall contain the circumstances leadingup to the death and cause of death; any social service agency involvement priorto death, including the kinds of services delivered to the dead child or thechild's parents, siblings or any other children in the home; the reasons forinitial social service agency activity and the reasons for any termination ofagency activities if involvement was terminated; whether court intervention hadever been sought and, if so, any action taken by the court; and recommendationsfor prevention of future death under similar circumstances.
(e) Within 15 days of its activation pursuant to this section, the statereview board shall complete and transmit a copy of its written reportto the county or district attorney of the county inwhich the child's death occurred. If the death of the child occurred in adifferent county than where the child resided, a copy of the report shall besent to the county or district attorney of the county where the child residedor, if the child resided in another state, to the child protective servicesagency of that state.
(f) The state review board shall maintain permanent records of all writtenreports concerning child deaths.
(g) The state review board may disclose its conclusions regarding a reportof a child death but shall not discloseany information received by the board which is not subject to public disclosureby the agency that provided the information to the board.
(h) Information, documents and records otherwise available from othersources are not immune from discovery or use in a civil or criminal actionsolely because they were presented during proceedings of the state reviewboard.A person who presented information before the board or who is a member of theboardshall not be prevented from testifying about matters within the person'sknowledge.
History: L. 1992, ch. 312, § 34; July 1.