CHAPTER 672. ADULT FATALITY REVIEW AND INVESTIGATION
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
TITLE 8. DEATH AND DISPOSITION OF THE BODY
SUBTITLE A. DEATH
CHAPTER 672. ADULT FATALITY REVIEW AND INVESTIGATION
Sec. 672.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Abuse" means:
(A) the negligent or wilful infliction of injury, unreasonable
confinement, intimidation, or cruel punishment with resulting
emotional or physical harm leading to death; or
(B) sexual abuse of an adult, including any involuntary or
nonconsensual sexual conduct that would constitute an offense
under Section 21.08, Penal Code, or Chapter 22, Penal Code.
(2) "Autopsy" and "inquest" have the meanings assigned by
Article 49.01, Code of Criminal Procedure.
(3) "Family violence" has the meaning assigned by Section
71.004, Family Code.
(4) "Health care provider" means any health care practitioner or
facility that provides medical evaluation or treatment, including
dental and mental health evaluation or treatment.
(5) "Review" means a reexamination of information regarding a
deceased adult from relevant agencies, professionals, and health
care providers.
(6) "Review team" means an unexpected fatality review team
established under this chapter.
(7) "Unexpected death" includes a death of an adult that before
investigation appears:
(A) to have occurred without anticipation or forewarning; and
(B) to have been caused by suicide, family violence, or abuse.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.002. ESTABLISHMENT OF REVIEW TEAM. (a) A
multidisciplinary and multiagency unexpected fatality review team
may be established for a county to conduct reviews of unexpected
deaths that occur within the county. A review team for a county
with a population of less than 50,000 may join with an adjacent
county or counties to establish a combined review team.
(b) The commissioners court of a county may oversee the
activities of the review team or may designate a county
department to oversee those activities. The commissioners court
may designate a nonprofit agency or a political subdivision of
the state involved in the support or treatment of victims of
family violence, abuse, or suicide to oversee the activities of
the review team if the governing body of the nonprofit agency or
political subdivision concurs.
(c) Any person who may be a member of a review team under
Subsection (d) may initiate the establishment of a review team
and call the first organizational meeting of the team.
(d) A review team may include:
(1) a criminal prosecutor involved in prosecuting crimes
involving family violence;
(2) a peace officer;
(3) a justice of the peace or medical examiner;
(4) a public health professional;
(5) a representative of the Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services engaged in providing adult protective
services;
(6) a mental health services provider;
(7) a representative of the family violence shelter center
providing services to the county;
(8) the victim witness advocate in the county prosecutor's
office;
(9) a representative from the battering intervention and
prevention program for the county; and
(10) a community supervision and corrections department officer.
(e) Members of a review team may select additional team members
according to community resources and needs.
(f) A review team shall select a presiding officer from its
members.
(g) Members selected under Subsection (e) must reflect the
geographical, cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of
the county or counties represented.
(h) Members selected under this section should have experience
in abuse, neglect, suicide, family violence, or elder abuse.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.003. PURPOSE AND POWERS OF REVIEW TEAM. (a) The
purpose of a review team is to decrease the incidence of
preventable adult deaths by:
(1) promoting cooperation, communication, and coordination among
agencies involved in responding to unexpected deaths;
(2) developing an understanding of the causes and incidence of
unexpected deaths in the county or counties in which the review
team is located; and
(3) advising the legislature, appropriate state agencies, and
local law enforcement agencies on changes to law, policy, or
practice that will reduce the number of unexpected deaths.
(b) To achieve its purpose, a review team shall:
(1) develop and implement, according to local needs and
resources, appropriate protocols;
(2) meet on a regular basis to review fatality cases suspected
to have resulted from suicide, family violence, or abuse and
recommend methods to improve coordination of services and
investigations between agencies that are represented on the team;
(3) collect and maintain data, as appropriate; and
(4) submit the report required under Section 672.008.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.004. DUTIES OF PRESIDING OFFICER. The presiding
officer of a review team may:
(1) send notices to the review team members of a meeting to
review a fatality involving suspected suicide, family violence,
or abuse;
(2) provide a list to the review team members of each fatality
to be reviewed at the meeting; and
(3) ensure that the review team operates according to the
protocols developed by the review team.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.005. REVIEW PROCEDURE. (a) The review team of the
county in which the event that was the cause of the unexpected
death occurred, as stated on the death certificate or as
otherwise indicated by the medical examiner or justice of the
peace notified of the death, may review the death.
(b) On receipt of the list of fatalities under Section 672.004,
each review team member shall review available records for
information regarding each listed unexpected death.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.006. ACCESS TO INFORMATION. (a) A review team may
request information and records regarding adult deaths resulting
from suicide, family violence, or abuse as necessary to carry out
the review team's purpose and duties. Records and information
that may be requested under this section include:
(1) medical, dental, and mental health care information; and
(2) information and records maintained by any state or local
government agency, including:
(A) a birth certificate;
(B) law enforcement investigative data;
(C) medical examiner investigative data;
(D) juvenile court records;
(E) parole and probation information and records; and
(F) adult protective services information and records.
(b) On request of the presiding officer of a review team, the
custodian of the relevant information or records relating to the
deceased adult shall provide the information or records to the
review team. A law enforcement agency or a medical examiner may
decline to provide investigative data to a review team until
after the conclusion of the investigation.
(c) This section does not authorize the release of the original
or copies of the mental health or medical records of any member
of the deceased adult's family, the guardian or caretaker of the
deceased adult, or an alleged or suspected perpetrator of family
violence or abuse of the adult that are in the possession of any
state or local government agency as provided in Subsection
(a)(2). Information relating to the mental health or medical
condition of a member of the deceased adult's family, the
guardian or caretaker of the deceased adult, or the alleged or
suspected perpetrator of family violence or abuse of the deceased
adult acquired as part of an investigation by a state or local
government agency as provided in Subsection (a)(2) may be
provided to the review team.
(d) This section does not authorize any interference with a
criminal investigation, inquest, or autopsy.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.007. MEETING OF REVIEW TEAM. (a) A meeting of a
review team is closed to the public and not subject to the open
meetings law, Chapter 551, Government Code.
(b) This section does not prohibit a review team from requesting
the attendance at a closed meeting of a person who is not a
member of the review team and who has information regarding a
fatality resulting from suicide, family violence, or abuse.
(c) Except as necessary to carry out a review team's purpose and
duties, members of a review team and persons attending a review
team meeting may not disclose what occurred at the meeting.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.008. REPORT. (a) Not later than December 15 of each
even-numbered year, each review team shall submit to the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services a report on
deaths reviewed.
(b) Subject to Section 672.009, the Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services shall make the reports received under
Subsection (a) available to the public.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.009. USE OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS; CONFIDENTIALITY.
(a) Information and records acquired by a review team in the
exercise of its purpose and duties under this chapter are
confidential and exempt from disclosure under the open records
law, Chapter 552, Government Code, and may only be disclosed as
necessary to carry out the review team's purpose and duties.
(b) A report of a review team or a statistical compilation of
data reports is a public record subject to the open records law,
Chapter 552, Government Code, as if the review team were a
governmental body under that chapter, if the report or
statistical compilation does not contain any information that
would permit the identification of an individual and is not
otherwise confidential or privileged.
(c) A member of a review team may not disclose any information
that is confidential under this section.
(d) A person commits an offense if the person discloses
information made confidential by this section. An offense under
this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.
(e) Information, documents, and records that are confidential as
provided by this section are not subject to subpoena or discovery
and may not be introduced into evidence in any civil or criminal
proceeding. A document or other information that is otherwise
available from another source is not protected from subpoena,
discovery, or introduction into evidence under this subsection
solely because the document or information was acquired by a
review team in the exercise of its duties under this chapter.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
268, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2009.
Sec. 672.010. CIVIL LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.
Subject to the limits described in Section 101.023(b), Civil
Practice and Remedies Code, a team organized pursuant to this
chapter, or any member thereof, may be civilly liable for damages
caused by the disclosure of information gathered pursuant to an
investigation if such disclosure is made in violation of Section
672.007 and Section 672.009.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.011. GOVERNMENTAL UNIT. Subject to Section 672.010, a
review team established under this chapter is a local
governmental unit for purposes of Chapter 101, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.012. REPORT OF UNEXPECTED FATALITY. (a) A person,
including a health care provider, who knows of the death of an
adult that resulted from, or that occurred under circumstances
indicating death may have resulted from, suicide, family
violence, or abuse, shall immediately report the death to the
medical examiner of the county in which the death occurred or, if
the death occurred in a county that does not have a medical
examiner's office or that is not part of a medical examiner's
district, to a justice of the peace in that county.
(b) The requirement of this section is in addition to any other
reporting requirement imposed by law.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.
Sec. 672.013. PROCEDURE IN THE EVENT OF REPORTABLE DEATH. (a)
A medical examiner or justice of the peace notified of a death
under Section 672.012 may hold an inquest under Chapter 49, Code
of Criminal Procedure, to determine whether the death was caused
by suicide, family violence, or abuse.
(b) Without regard to whether an inquest is held under
Subsection (a), the medical examiner or justice of the peace
shall immediately notify the county or entity designated under
Section 672.002(b) of:
(1) each notification of death received under Section 672.012;
(2) each death found to be caused by suicide, family violence,
or abuse; or
(3) each death that may be a result of suicide, family violence,
or abuse, without regard to whether the suspected suicide, family
violence, or abuse is determined to be a sole or contributing
cause and without regard to whether the cause of death is
conclusively determined.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1486, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
2001.