Local committees review eligible deaths of children and report findings

Local committees review eligible child deaths, investigate their causes and circumstances, and recommend ways to prevent similar deaths. The criteria cover deaths of children from birth through age 17, including unexpected deaths, injuries, suspicious deaths, certain medical conditions, deaths in institutions, and deaths involving child abuse. The committee makes the final decision about whether a death meets the review criteria and may ask the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for guidance. The chairperson must call a committee meeting within 30 days after receiving a report about an eligible death and call meetings every 30 days to review eligible reports.

Committees prepare reports about reviewed deaths and send reports to the state panel; they also publish an annual report. The death report covers a child whose death the committee reviewed. The annual report covers the committee's work in the previous calendar year. The annual report gives the number of death reports received and committee reviews prepared during the previous calendar year. A committee sends its completed death report to the state panel within 15 days. It publishes its annual report by July 1 and sends a copy to the panel by July 15 each year.

The state fatality review panel may ask a judge to require records or witnesses if the local committee has not used its subpoena authority. This applies to a matter before the state panel when the local child fatality review committee has not sought a subpoena. A subpoena requires someone to provide records or attend. A judge's earlier finding that records or witnesses are not needed for the review conclusively bars a subpoena for them.