2023 Kansas Statutes › Chapter 22a - District Officers And Employees › Article 2 - District Coroners › 22a-244 Same; activation of board to investigate; access to records; subpoena power; report issued; disclosure of conclusions.

22a-244. Same; activation of board to investigate; access to records; subpoena power; report issued; disclosure of conclusions.
(a) Within 72 hours after receipt of notification from a coroner pursuant to K.S.A. 22a-242, and amendments thereto, the chairperson of the state review board may activate the board to investigate and make a written report regarding the death.
(b) The state review board shall have access to all law enforcement investigative information regarding the death; any autopsy records and coroner's investigative records relating to the death; any medical records of the child; and any records of the Kansas department for children and families or any other social service agency which has provided services to the child or the child's family within three years preceding the child's death.
(c) The state review board may apply to the district court for the issuance of, and the district court may issue, a subpoena to compel the production of any books, records or papers relevant to the cause of any death being investigated by the board. Any books, records or papers received by the board pursuant to the subpoena shall be regarded as confidential and privileged information and not subject to disclosure.
(d) The state review board's report shall contain the circumstances leading up to the death and cause of death; any social service agency involvement prior to death, including the kinds of services delivered to the dead child or the child's parents, siblings or any other children in the home; the reasons for initial social service agency activity and the reasons for any termination of agency activities if involvement was terminated; whether court intervention had ever been sought and, if so, any action taken by the court; and recommendations for prevention of future death under similar circumstances.
(e) Within 15 days of its activation pursuant to this section, the state review board shall complete and transmit a copy of its written report to the county or district attorney of the county in which the child's death occurred. If the death of the child occurred in a different county than where the child resided, a copy of the report shall be sent to the county or district attorney of the county where the child resided or, if the child resided in another state, to the child protective services agency of that state.
(f) The state review board shall maintain permanent records of all written reports concerning child deaths.
(g) The state review board may disclose its conclusions regarding a report of a child death but shall not disclose any information received by the board which is not subject to public disclosure by the agency that provided the information to the board.
(h) Information, documents and records otherwise available from other sources are not immune from discovery or use in a civil or criminal action solely because they were presented during proceedings of the state review board. A person who presented information before the board or who is a member of the board shall not be prevented from testifying about matters within the person's knowledge.
History:
L. 1992, ch. 312, § 34; L. 2014, ch. 115, § 30; July 1.