26:6C-8 Actions upon receipt of report of maternal death.

8. a. Upon receipt of a report of maternal death, which has been forwarded to the committee pursuant to subsection b. of section 7 of this act, the committee shall investigate the reported case in accordance with the provisions of this section. In conducting the investigation, the committee shall consider:

(1) the information contained in the forwarded report of maternal death;

(2) any relevant information contained in the deceased woman's autopsy report or death record, or in a certificate of live birth or fetal death for the woman's child, or in any other vital records pertaining to the woman;

(3) any relevant information contained in the deceased woman's medical records, including: (a) records related to the health care that was provided to the woman prior to her pregnancy; (b) records related to the woman's prenatal and postnatal care, labor and delivery care, emergency room care, and any other care delivered up until the time of the woman's death; and (c) the woman's hospital discharge records and all hospital records including all emergency room and outpatient records from the one-year period following the end of the pregnancy;

(4) information obtained through the oral and written interviews of individuals who were directly involved in the care of the woman either during, or immediately following, her pregnancy, including interviews with relevant health care practitioners, mental health care practitioners, and social service providers, and, as deemed to be appropriate and necessary, interviews with the woman's family members;

(5) background information about the deceased woman, including, but not limited to, information regarding the woman's age, race, and socioeconomic status; and

(6) any other information that may shed light on the maternal death, including, but not limited to, reports from social service or child welfare agencies.

b. At the conclusion of an investigation conducted pursuant to this section, the committee shall prepare a case summary, which shall include the committee's findings with regard to the cause of, or the factors that contributed to, the maternal death, and recommendations for actions that should be undertaken, or policies that should be implemented, to mitigate or eliminate those factors and causes in the future. Any case summary prepared pursuant to this subsection shall omit the identifying information of the deceased woman and her family members, the health care providers who provided care, and the hospitals where care was provided.

c. The committee may present its findings and recommendations on each individual case, or on groups of individual cases, as deemed appropriate, to the health care facility or facilities where relevant care was provided in the case or group of cases, and to the individual health care practitioners who provided such care, or to any relevant professional organization, for the purposes of instituting or facilitating policy changes, educational activities, or improvements in the quality of care provided; or for the purposes of exploring, facilitating, or establishing regional projects or other collaborative projects that are designed to reduce instances of maternal death.

L.2019, c.75, s.8.