                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

LOCAL AND REGIONAL ADULT FATALITY REVIEW TEAMS ESTABLISHED; MEMBERSHIP;
AUTHORITY; CONFIDENTIALITY; IMMUNITY (§ 32.1-283.6)

A. Upon the initiative of any local or regional law-enforcement agency,
department of social services, emergency medical services agency, attorney for
the Commonwealth&#8217;s office, community services board, or official with the
Adult Protective Services Unit established pursuant to &#xA7; 51.5-148, local or
regional adult fatality review teams may be established for the purpose of
conducting contemporaneous reviews of local adult deaths in order to develop
interventions and strategies for prevention specific to the locality or region.
For the purposes of this section, the team may review the death of any person
age 60 years or older, or any adult age 18 years or older who is incapacitated,
who resides in the Commonwealth and who is in need of temporary or emergency
protective services (i) who was the subject of an adult protective services or
law-enforcement investigation; (ii) whose death was due to abuse, neglect, or
exploitation or acts suggesting abuse, neglect, or exploitation; or (iii) whose
death came under the jurisdiction of or was investigated by the Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner as occurring in any suspicious, unusual, or unnatural
manner, pursuant to &#xA7; 32.1-283. Each team shall establish rules and
procedures to govern the review process. Agencies may share information but
shall be bound by confidentiality and execute a sworn statement to honor the
confidentiality of the information they share. A violation of this subsection is
punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
shall develop a model protocol for the development and implementation of local
or regional adult fatality review teams and such model protocol shall include
relevant procedures for conducting reviews of adult fatalities.

B. Local and regional teams may be composed of the following persons from the
localities represented on a particular board or their designees: a medical
examiner appointed pursuant to &#xA7; 32.1-282, a local adult protective
services official, a local social services official, a director of the relevant
local or district health department, an executive director of the local area
agency on aging or other department representing the interests of the elderly or
disabled, a chief law-enforcement officer, the attorney for the Commonwealth, an
executive director of the local community services board or other local mental
health agency, a local judge, and such additional persons as may be appointed to
serve by the chair of the local or regional team. The chair shall be elected
from among the designated membership. The additional members appointed by the
chair may include, but are not restricted to, representatives of local human
services agencies, local health care professionals specializing in geriatric
care or care of incapacitated adults, local emergency medical services
personnel, local long-term care providers, representatives of local advocacy or
service organizations for elderly or disabled populations, experts in forensic
medicine and pathology, local funeral services providers, local centers for
independent living, local long-term care ombudsmen, and representatives of the
local bar.

C. Each local or regional team shall establish operating procedures to govern
the review process prior to conducting the first adult fatality review. The
review of a death shall be delayed until any criminal investigations connected
with the death are completed or the Commonwealth consents to the commencement of
such review prior to the completion of the criminal investigation.

D. All information and records obtained or created regarding a review of a
fatality shall be confidential and shall be excluded from the Virginia Freedom
of Information Act (&#xA7; 2.2-3700 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision 7 of &#xA7;
2.2-3705.5. All such information and records shall be used by the team only in
the exercise of its proper purpose and function and shall not be disclosed. Such
information and records shall not be subject to subpoena, subpoena duces tecum,
discovery, or introduction into evidence when obtained through such other
sources solely because the information and records were presented to the team
during the fatality review. No person who participated in the review and no
member of the team shall be required to make any statement as to what transpired
during the review or what information was collected during the review. Upon the
conclusion of the fatality review, all information and records concerning the
victim and family shall be returned to the originating agency or destroyed.
However, the findings of the team may be disclosed or published in statistical
or other form that does not identify any individuals. The portions of meetings
in which individual cases are discussed by the team shall be closed pursuant to
subdivision A 21 of &#xA7; 2.2-3711. All team members, persons attending closed
team meetings, and persons presenting information and records on specific
fatalities to the team during closed meetings shall execute a sworn statement to
honor the confidentiality of the information, records, discussions, and opinions
disclosed during any closed meeting to review a specific death. A violation of
this subsection is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.

E. Members of teams, as well as their agents and employees, shall be immune from
civil liability for any act or omission made in connection with participation in
an adult fatality review team review, unless such act or omission was the result
of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Any organization, institution, or
person furnishing information, data, testimony, reports, or records to review
teams as part of such review shall be immune from civil liability for any act or
omission in furnishing such information, unless such act or omission was the
result of gross negligence or willful misconduct.

HISTORY: 2015, c. 108; 2017, c. 778.