What's happening
This bill authorizes local or regional teams to review deaths suspected to be caused by suicide or overdose for better data collection and prevention.
Why it matters
Creates multidisciplinary teams to investigate deaths. The bill mandates that review teams include a broad range of professionals—public health, mental health, substance abuse, law enforcement, medical examiners, and others—ensuring a comprehensive approach to understanding the factors behind suicides and overdoses.
Grants special access and legal protections. Teams are given access to most relevant records within 21 days, and team members are protected from civil and criminal liability for actions taken in good faith during reviews, which can encourage candid participation and thorough investigations.
Emphasizes confidentiality and targeted reporting. All team meetings and records are confidential, with only anonymized annual or specific fatality reports shared publicly and with state leadership, ensuring privacy for families while still disseminating actionable findings.
Aims for proactive prevention and policy change. By requiring the identification of trends and the sharing of recommendations with state and local officials, the bill seeks to drive responsive changes in policy or services, potentially leading to more effective interventions and prevention efforts.
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Who cares
State and county health departments
The bill would authorize local or regional fatality review teams with state Health Department approval and require the department to work with county health departments to respond to identified local trends.
Mental health agencies and substance abuse providers
They would participate in teams gathering localized data on suspected suicide and overdose deaths, with optional fatality reports recommending administrative or policy changes.
Medical examiners, coroners, prosecutors and law enforcement
They would serve on review teams entitled to access records not protected by statutory privilege within 21 days of a request.
Review team members and information providers
They would receive civil and criminal liability protections for reasonable, good-faith actions, while team meetings and records would generally remain confidential.
Headline styles
Review Overdose and Suicide Deaths
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 38
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to health
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7015
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2020
Introduced by Sens. CARLUCCI, AKSHAR -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to authorizing local or regional accidental fatality review teams where deaths are suspected to be caused by suicide or overdose
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Article 2 of the public health law is amended by adding a new title 8 to read as follows:
TITLE 8
LOCAL OR REGIONAL ACCIDENTAL FATALITY REVIEW TEAMS Section 269. Local or regional accidental fatality review teams.
§ 269. Local or regional accidental fatality review teams. 1. An accidental fatality review team may be established at a local or regional level, with the approval of the department, for the purpose of investigating the unexpected or unexplained death of any person where such death is suspected to be caused by overdose or suicide. The purpose of such teams is to gather more localized and comprehensive data on suicide and overdose.
2. For the purposes of this section, a local or regional accidental fatality review team shall include, but need not be limited to, representatives from the department, county department of health, or, should the locality not have a county department of health, the local health commissioner or his or her designee or the local public health director or his or her designee, office of mental health, office of alcoholism and substance abuse, county department of mental health, office of the medical examiner, or, should the locality not have a medical examiner, office of the coroner, office of the district attorney, office of the county attorney, local and state law enforcement, emergency medical services, a physician or comparable medical professional, preferably with expertise in the areas of substance abuse or mental health, and a substance abuse program provider. A local or regional accidental fatality review team may also include representatives from medical facilities,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14408-01-9
S. 7015 2
including hospitals or other appropriate agencies or institutions, domestic violence agencies, and substance abuse programs.
3. A local or regional accidental fatality review team established pursuant to this section shall have access to all records, except those protected by statutory privilege, within twenty-one days of receipt of a request.
4. Members of a local or regional accidental fatality review team, persons attending a meeting of a local or regional accidental fatality review team, and persons who present information to a local or regional accidental fatality review team shall have immunity from civil and criminal liability for all reasonable and good faith actions taken pursuant to this section, and shall not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding any opinions formed as a result of a meeting of a local or regional accidental fatality review team. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a person from testifying as to information obtained independently of a local or regional accidental fatality review team or which is public information.
5. (a) All meetings conducted and all reports and records made and maintained, and books and papers obtained, by a local or regional accidental fatality review team shall be confidential and not open to the general public except by court order and except for an annual report or a fatality report, if the fatality review team chooses to complete such an annual report or fatality report. Any such annual report or fatality report shall not contain any individually identifiable information and shall be provided to the department upon completion. The department shall forward copies of any such report to all other local or regional accidental fatality review teams established pursuant to this section, and to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly.
(b) Any fatality report completed pursuant to this section shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the cause of death, whether from natural or other causes; (ii) identification of any services provided or actions taken regarding such person and his or her family including prior to such person's death; (iii) any extraordinary or pertinent information concerning the circumstances of such person's death; (iv) any action or further investigation undertaken by the department since the death of the person; and (v) as appropriate, recommendations for local or state administrative or policy changes.
6. When local trends are discovered, the department shall work with county health departments in responding to such trends and data.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to authorizing local or regional accidental fatality review teams where deaths are suspected to be caused by suicide or overdose
Purpose or general idea of the bill
To create accidental fatality review teams to gather more localized and comprehensive data on overdose suicide.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends the public health law by adding a new title 8 as it relates to authorizing local or regional accidental fatal- ity review teams where deaths are suspected to be caused by overdose or suicide.
Section one, part two states that such teams shall include the follow- ing: Representatives from the department of health, county department of health, office of mental health, office of alcoholism and substance abuse, county department of mental health, office of the medical examin- er or office of the coroner, office of the district attorney, office of the county attorney, local and state law enforcement, emergency medical services, a physician or comparable medical professional, and a substance abuse program provider.
Section one, part three permits access to records.
Section one, part four protects members of such teams and other partic- ipants from civil and criminal liability.
Section one, part five ensures confidentiality of records and sets the parameters for an annual report.
Section one, part six prompts the department of health to assist in responding to trends and data.
Section two of the bill sets the effective date.
Justification
In 2012, Washington County, Oregon launched a suicide fatality review team to uncover localized suicide trends. This data, in addition to pre-existing state and national data, allowed them to design solutions to the crisis that were best suited to the needs of their communities.
In part, due of these localized solutions, the County's suicide rate decreased by 40 percent between 2012 and 2018.
This bill will allow for the creation of local or regional accidental fatality review teams to mimic this success for the issue of suicide and for the issue of overdose. These teams will serve three purposes: 1) to identify suicide trends and work with the department of health to address them; 2) to identify overdose trends and work with the depart-
ment of health to address them; 3) to remediate the data conflation that currently exists between suicide and overdose fatalities.
Legislative history
New legislation.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
Minimal.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.