Full Text of HB4826 99th General Assembly
HB4826eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning aging.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Adult Protective Services Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Section 15 as follows: | 6 | | (320 ILCS 20/15) | 7 | | Sec. 15. Fatality Review Teams. | 8 | | (a) State policy. | 9 | | (1) Both the State and the community maintain a | 10 | | commitment to preventing the abuse, neglect, and financial | 11 | | exploitation of at-risk adults. This includes a charge to | 12 | | bring perpetrators of crimes against at-risk adults to | 13 | | justice and prevent untimely deaths in the community. | 14 | | (2) When an at-risk adult dies, the response to the | 15 | | death by the community, law enforcement, and the State must | 16 | | include an accurate and complete determination of the cause | 17 | | of death, and the development and implementation of | 18 | | measures to prevent future deaths from similar causes. | 19 | | (3) Multidisciplinary and multi-agency reviews of | 20 | | deaths can assist the State and counties in developing a | 21 | | greater understanding of the incidence and causes of | 22 | | premature deaths and the methods for preventing those | 23 | | deaths, improving methods for investigating deaths, and |
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| 1 | | identifying gaps in services to at-risk adults. | 2 | | (4) Access to information regarding the deceased | 3 | | person and his or her family by multidisciplinary and | 4 | | multi-agency fatality review teams is necessary in order to | 5 | | fulfill their purposes and duties. | 6 | | (a-5) Definitions. As used in this Section: | 7 | | "Advisory Council" means the Illinois Fatality Review | 8 | | Team Advisory Council. | 9 | | "Review Team" means a regional interagency fatality | 10 | | review team. | 11 | | (b) The Director, in consultation with the Advisory | 12 | | Council, law enforcement, and other professionals who work in | 13 | | the fields of investigating, treating, or preventing abuse or | 14 | | neglect of at-risk adults, shall appoint members to a minimum | 15 | | of one review team in each of the Department's planning and | 16 | | service areas. Each member of a review team shall be appointed | 17 | | for a 2-year term and shall be eligible for reappointment upon | 18 | | the expiration of the term. A review team's purpose in | 19 | | conducting review of at-risk adult deaths is: (i) to assist | 20 | | local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious deaths | 21 | | of adult victims of alleged, suspected, or substantiated abuse | 22 | | or neglect in domestic living situations; (ii) to facilitate | 23 | | communications between officials responsible for autopsies and | 24 | | inquests and persons involved in reporting or investigating | 25 | | alleged or suspected cases of abuse, neglect, or financial | 26 | | exploitation of at-risk adults and persons involved in |
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| 1 | | providing services to at-risk adults; (iii) to evaluate means | 2 | | by which the death might have been prevented; and (iv) to | 3 | | report its findings to the appropriate agencies and the | 4 | | Advisory Council and make recommendations that may help to | 5 | | reduce the number of at-risk adult deaths caused by abuse and | 6 | | neglect and that may help to improve the investigations of | 7 | | deaths of at-risk adults and increase prosecutions, if | 8 | | appropriate. | 9 | | (b-5) Each such team shall be composed of representatives | 10 | | of entities and individuals including, but not limited to: | 11 | | (1) the Department on Aging; | 12 | | (2) coroners or medical examiners (or both); | 13 | | (3) State's Attorneys; | 14 | | (4) local police departments; | 15 | | (5) forensic units; | 16 | | (6) local health departments; | 17 | | (7) a social service or health care agency that | 18 | | provides services to persons with mental illness, in a | 19 | | program whose accreditation to provide such services is | 20 | | recognized by the Division of Mental Health within the | 21 | | Department of Human Services; | 22 | | (8) a social service or health care agency that | 23 | | provides services to persons with developmental | 24 | | disabilities, in a program whose accreditation to provide | 25 | | such services is recognized by the Division of | 26 | | Developmental Disabilities within the Department of Human |
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| 1 | | Services; | 2 | | (9) a local hospital, trauma center, or provider of | 3 | | emergency medicine; | 4 | | (10) providers of services for eligible adults in | 5 | | domestic living situations; and | 6 | | (11) a physician, psychiatrist, or other health care | 7 | | provider knowledgeable about abuse and neglect of at-risk | 8 | | adults. | 9 | | (c) A review team shall review cases of deaths of at-risk | 10 | | adults occurring in its planning and service area (i) involving | 11 | | blunt force trauma or an undetermined manner or suspicious | 12 | | cause of death; (ii) if requested by the deceased's attending | 13 | | physician or an emergency room physician; (iii) upon referral | 14 | | by a health care provider; (iv) upon referral by a coroner or | 15 | | medical examiner; (v) constituting an open or closed case from | 16 | | an adult protective services agency, law enforcement agency, | 17 | | State's Attorney's office, or the Department of Human Services' | 18 | | Office of the Inspector General that involves alleged or | 19 | | suspected abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation; or
(vi) | 20 | | upon referral by a law enforcement agency or State's Attorney's | 21 | | office. If such a death occurs in a planning and service area | 22 | | where a review team has not yet been established, the Director | 23 | | shall request that the Advisory Council or another review team | 24 | | review that death. A team may also review deaths of at-risk | 25 | | adults if the alleged abuse or neglect occurred while the | 26 | | person was residing in a domestic living situation. |
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| 1 | | A review team shall meet not less than 4 6 times a year to | 2 | | discuss cases for its possible review. Each review team, with | 3 | | the advice and consent of the Department, shall establish | 4 | | criteria to be used in discussing cases of alleged, suspected, | 5 | | or substantiated abuse or neglect for review and shall conduct | 6 | | its activities in accordance with any applicable policies and | 7 | | procedures established by the Department. | 8 | | (c-5) The Illinois Fatality Review Team Advisory Council, | 9 | | consisting of one member from each review team in Illinois, | 10 | | shall be the coordinating and oversight body for review teams | 11 | | and activities in Illinois. The Director may appoint to the | 12 | | Advisory Council any ex-officio members deemed necessary. | 13 | | Persons with expertise needed by the Advisory Council may be | 14 | | invited to meetings. The Advisory Council must select from its | 15 | | members a chairperson and a vice-chairperson, each to serve a | 16 | | 2-year term. The chairperson or vice-chairperson may be | 17 | | selected to serve additional, subsequent terms. The Advisory | 18 | | Council must meet at least 4 times during each calendar year. | 19 | | The Department may provide or arrange for the staff support | 20 | | necessary for the Advisory Council to carry out its duties. The | 21 | | Director, in cooperation and consultation with the Advisory | 22 | | Council, shall appoint, reappoint, and remove review team | 23 | | members. | 24 | | The Advisory Council has, but is not limited to, the | 25 | | following duties: | 26 | | (1) To serve as the voice of review teams in Illinois. |
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| 1 | | (2) To oversee the review teams in order to ensure that | 2 | | the review teams' work is coordinated and in compliance | 3 | | with State statutes and the operating protocol. | 4 | | (3) To ensure that the data, results, findings, and | 5 | | recommendations of the review teams are adequately used in | 6 | | a timely manner to make any necessary changes to the | 7 | | policies, procedures, and State statutes in order to | 8 | | protect at-risk adults. | 9 | | (4) To collaborate with the Department in order to | 10 | | develop any legislation needed to prevent unnecessary | 11 | | deaths of at-risk adults. | 12 | | (5) To ensure that the review teams' review processes | 13 | | are standardized in order to convey data, findings, and | 14 | | recommendations in a usable format. | 15 | | (6) To serve as a link with review teams throughout the | 16 | | country and to participate in national review team | 17 | | activities. | 18 | | (7) To provide the review teams with the most current | 19 | | information and practices concerning at-risk adult death | 20 | | review and related topics. | 21 | | (8) To perform any other functions necessary to enhance | 22 | | the capability of the review teams to reduce and prevent | 23 | | at-risk adult fatalities. | 24 | | The Advisory Council may prepare an annual report, in | 25 | | consultation with the Department, using aggregate data | 26 | | gathered by review teams and using the review teams' |
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| 1 | | recommendations to develop education, prevention, prosecution, | 2 | | or other strategies designed to improve the coordination of | 3 | | services for at-risk adults and their families. | 4 | | In any instance where a review team does not operate in | 5 | | accordance with established protocol, the Director, in | 6 | | consultation and cooperation with the Advisory Council, must | 7 | | take any necessary actions to bring the review team into | 8 | | compliance with the protocol. | 9 | | (d) Any document or oral or written communication shared | 10 | | within or produced by the review team relating to a case | 11 | | discussed or reviewed by the review team is confidential and is | 12 | | not admissible as evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding, | 13 | | except for use by a State's Attorney's office in prosecuting a | 14 | | criminal case against a caregiver. Those records and | 15 | | information are, however, subject to discovery or subpoena, and | 16 | | are admissible as evidence, to the extent they are otherwise | 17 | | available to the public. | 18 | | Any document or oral or written communication provided to a | 19 | | review team by an individual or entity, and created by that | 20 | | individual or entity solely for the use of the review team, is | 21 | | confidential, is not subject to disclosure to or discoverable | 22 | | by another party, and is not admissible as evidence in any | 23 | | civil or criminal proceeding, except for use by a State's | 24 | | Attorney's office in prosecuting a criminal case against a | 25 | | caregiver. Those records and information are, however, subject | 26 | | to discovery or subpoena, and are admissible as evidence, to |
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| 1 | | the extent they are otherwise available to the public. | 2 | | Each entity or individual represented on the fatality | 3 | | review team may share with other members of the team | 4 | | information in the entity's or individual's possession | 5 | | concerning the decedent who is the subject of the review or | 6 | | concerning any person who was in contact with the decedent, as | 7 | | well as any other information deemed by the entity or | 8 | | individual to be pertinent to the review. Any such information | 9 | | shared by an entity or individual with other members of the | 10 | | review team is confidential. The intent of this paragraph is to | 11 | | permit the disclosure to members of the review team of any | 12 | | information deemed confidential or privileged or prohibited | 13 | | from disclosure by any other provision of law. Release of | 14 | | confidential communication between domestic violence advocates | 15 | | and a domestic violence victim shall follow subsection (d) of | 16 | | Section 227 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 which | 17 | | allows for the waiver of privilege afforded to guardians, | 18 | | executors, or administrators of the estate of the domestic | 19 | | violence victim. This provision relating to the release of | 20 | | confidential communication between domestic violence advocates | 21 | | and a domestic violence victim shall exclude adult protective | 22 | | service providers.
| 23 | | A coroner's or medical examiner's office may share with the | 24 | | review team medical records that have been made available to | 25 | | the coroner's or medical examiner's office in connection with | 26 | | that office's investigation of a death. |
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| 1 | | Members of a review team and the Advisory Council are not | 2 | | subject to examination, in any civil or criminal proceeding, | 3 | | concerning information presented to members of the review team | 4 | | or the Advisory Council or opinions formed by members of the | 5 | | review team or the Advisory Council based on that information. | 6 | | A person may, however, be examined concerning information | 7 | | provided to a review team or the Advisory Council. | 8 | | (d-5) Meetings of the review teams and the Advisory Council | 9 | | may be closed to the public under the Open Meetings Act. | 10 | | Records and information provided to a review team and the | 11 | | Advisory Council, and records maintained by a team or the | 12 | | Advisory Council, are exempt from release under the Freedom of | 13 | | Information Act. | 14 | | (e) A review team's recommendation in relation to a case | 15 | | discussed or reviewed by the review team, including, but not | 16 | | limited to, a recommendation concerning an investigation or | 17 | | prosecution, may be disclosed by the review team upon the | 18 | | completion of its review and at the discretion of a majority of | 19 | | its members who reviewed the case. | 20 | | (e-5) The State shall indemnify and hold harmless members | 21 | | of a review team and the Advisory Council for all their acts, | 22 | | omissions, decisions, or other conduct arising out of the scope | 23 | | of their service on the review team or Advisory Council, except | 24 | | those involving willful or wanton misconduct. The method of | 25 | | providing indemnification shall be as provided in the State | 26 | | Employee Indemnification Act. |
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| 1 | | (f) The Department, in consultation with coroners, medical | 2 | | examiners, and law enforcement agencies, shall use aggregate | 3 | | data gathered by and recommendations from the Advisory Council | 4 | | and the review teams to create an annual report and may use | 5 | | those data and recommendations to develop education, | 6 | | prevention, prosecution, or other strategies designed to | 7 | | improve the coordination of services for at-risk adults and | 8 | | their families. The Department or other State or county agency, | 9 | | in consultation with coroners, medical examiners, and law | 10 | | enforcement agencies, also may use aggregate data gathered by | 11 | | the review teams to create a database of at-risk individuals.
| 12 | | (g) The Department shall adopt such rules and regulations | 13 | | as it deems necessary to implement this Section. | 14 | | (Source: P.A. 98-49, eff. 7-1-13; 98-1039, eff. 8-25-14; 99-78, | 15 | | eff. 7-20-15.)
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