N.Y. MHY Law § 31.37 — New York Code / Act MHY / Title E / Article 31 / Section 31.37
Mental health incident review panels
Status: in_force

§ 31.37 Mental health incident review panels.\n  (a) The commissioner shall establish no less than one mental health\nincident review panel per quarter to review the circumstances and events\nrelated to an incident involving a person with serious mental illness\noccurring in the community that involved the use of deadly physical\nforce, as defined by subdivision eleven of section 10.00 of the penal\nlaw, and resulted in serious physical injury, as defined by subdivision\nten of section 10.00 of the penal law, to another. In selecting an\nincident to be reviewed, the commissioner shall review requests from\nlocal governmental units, or non-governmental organizations or\nnot-for-profit entities involved with the provision of mental health\ncare or that represent the interests of people with mental illness and\nshall identify an incident appropriate for an incident review panel,\nconsistent with the purposes of this section.\n  (a-1) The commissioner may establish, on their own accord, additional\nmental health incident review panels for the purposes of reviewing in\nconjunction with local representation, the circumstances and events\nrelated to a serious incident involving a person with mental illness.\nFor purposes of this section, a "serious incident involving a person\nwith mental illness" means an incident occurring in the community in\nwhich a person with a serious mental illness suffers physical injury as\ndefined in subdivision nine of section 10.00 of the penal law or causes\nsuch physical injury to another person, or suffers a serious and\npreventable medical complication or becomes involved in a criminal\nincident involving violence.\n  (a-2) A panel established under this section shall conduct a review of\nsuch incident for the purpose of identifying problems or gaps in mental\nhealth delivery systems and to make recommendations for corrective\nactions to improve the provision of mental health or related services,\nto improve the coordination, integration and accountability of care in\nthe mental health service system, and to enhance individual and public\nsafety.\n  (b) A mental health incident review panel shall include\nrepresentatives from the office of mental health, the division of\ncriminal justice services, and the chief executive officer or designee\nof the local governmental unit where the serious incident involving a\nperson with a mental illness occurred. A mental health incident review\npanel may also include, if deemed appropriate by the commissioner based\non the nature of the serious incident being reviewed, one or more\nrepresentatives from mental health providers, local departments of\nsocial services, human services programs, hospitals, local schools,\nemergency medical or mental health services, the office of the county\nattorney, state or local police agencies, the office of the medical\nexaminer or the office of the coroner, the judiciary, or other\nappropriate state or local officials; provided, however, that a local\nlaw enforcement official may not serve as a member of such a review\npanel if such local law enforcement official's office or agency is\ndirectly involved in any ongoing investigation or prosecution of a crime\nunder review by the panel, or any appeal of a criminal conviction for\nsuch crime.\n  (c) (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary and\nto the extent consistent with federal law, a mental health incident\nreview panel shall have access to those relevant client-identifiable\nmental health records, as well as all records, documentation and reports\nrelating to the investigation of an incident by the justice center,\npursuant to article twenty of the executive law and an incident by a\nfacility in accordance with regulations of the commissioner, which are\nnecessary for the investigation of the serious incident involving a\nperson with mental illness and the preparation of a report of such\nincident, as provided in subdivision (e) of this section. A mental\nhealth incident review panel investigating a serious incident involving\na person with a mental illness pursuant to this section shall be\nprovided with access to all relevant, non-privileged records in the\npossession of state or local officials or agencies, within twenty-one\ndays of receipt of a request, except: (A) those records protected by\nsection 190.25 of the criminal procedure law; (B) where providing law\nenforcement records would interfere with an ongoing law enforcement\ninvestigation or judicial proceeding, identify a confidential source or\ndisclose confidential information relating to an ongoing criminal\ninvestigation, highly sensitive criminal investigative techniques or\nprocedures, or endanger the safety or welfare of an individual; (C) with\nrespect to any such record that is privileged, where the privilege is\nheld by the official or agency and no separate privilege held by an\nindividual applies, such official or agency shall be authorized to waive\nsuch official's or agency's privilege, as applicable, and provide such\nrecord; and (D) whenever an agency, director or unit believes pursuant\nto subparagraph (B) of this paragraph that release of records would\ninterfere with a judicial proceeding, it shall identify that proceeding,\nand the mental health incident review panel shall be authorized, upon\nnotice to such agency, director or unit, to request in writing to the\njudge before whom such judicial proceeding is pending, that such judge\ndetermine whether access to such records should be denied on the ground\nthat release of such records would interfere with the pending\nproceeding. Upon receipt of such a request, the judge shall offer the\nagency, director or unit and the panel a reasonable opportunity to be\nheard, and may review the disputed records in camera. The judge shall\nsubmit its determination to the agency, director or unit and the mental\nhealth incident review panel, and the agency, director or unit shall\nthen proceed in accordance with the judge's determination.\n  (ii) In any case in which access to records is denied pursuant to this\nsubdivision, the appropriate agency shall inform the panel in writing of\nthe reasoning for such denial.\n  (d) Mental health incident review panels and members of the review\npanels shall have immunity from civil and criminal liability for all\nreasonable and good faith actions taken pursuant to this section, and\nshall not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding\nany discussions, deliberations or findings relating to the official\nduties of such review panel. Nothing in this section shall be construed\nto prevent a person from testifying as to information obtained\nindependently of a mental health incident review panel, or information\nwhich is public.\n  (d-1) Persons who present information to the panel shall have immunity\nfrom civil and criminal liability for all reasonable and good faith\nactions taken pursuant to this section, and shall not be questioned in\nany civil or criminal proceeding regarding their authorized\nparticipation at a meeting of the panel. Neither information nor records\nrelating to the performance of a review panel function, nor a person's\nparticipation in a review panel shall be subject to disclosure pursuant\nto article thirty-one of the civil practice law and rules. Nothing in\nthis section shall be construed to prevent the disclosure of, or\ntestimony regarding, information that exists or is obtained\nindependently of the panel or information that is public.\n  (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all\nmeetings conducted, all reports and records made and maintained and all\nbooks and papers obtained by a mental health incident review panel shall\nbe confidential, and shall not be open or made available, except by\ncourt order for good cause shown or as set forth in subdivision (g) of\nthis section. Each mental health incident review panel shall develop a\nreport of the incident investigated. Such report shall not contain any\nindividually identifiable information and shall be provided to the\noffice of mental health upon completion. Records, reports, information\nregarding testimony and other information gathered by the panel shall\nnot be further disseminated by a panel member.\n  (f) If quality problems of particular mental health programs are\nidentified based on such reviews, the commissioner is authorized,\npursuant to the relevant provisions of this chapter, to take appropriate\nactions regarding the licensure of particular providers, to refer the\nissue to other responsible parties for investigation, or to take other\nappropriate action within the scope of his or her authority.\n  (g) In accordance with section 33.13 of this title, the commissioner\nshall provide the final report of a review panel or portions thereof to\nany individual or entity for whom the report makes recommendations for\ncorrective or other appropriate actions. Any final report or portion\nthereof shall be confidential. Any individual or entity receiving the\nreport shall be prohibited from further disseminating such report.\nFurther, the commissioner shall notify the temporary president of the\nsenate and the speaker of the assembly of the issuance of the reports.\n  (h) The commissioner shall, every two years, submit a cumulative\nreport to the governor and the legislature incorporating the data in the\nmental health incident review panel reports and including a summary of\nthe findings and recommendations made by such review panels and, to the\nextent practicable, any recommendations that have been implemented,\nincluding recommendations from prior reports, and the impact of such\nimplementations. The cumulative reports shall thereafter be made\navailable to the public on the official agency website for the office of\nmental health, consistent with federal and state confidentiality\nprotections.\n