(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. Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session
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