(a) Except as provided in this section, information and records obtained or created by the Committee are confidential and not subject to civil discovery, or to disclosure from the Committee pursuant to subchapter II of Chapter 5 of Title 2.
(b) Information and records presented to the Committee for review shall not be immune from subpoena, discovery, or prohibited from being introduced into evidence solely because they were presented to or reviewed by the Committee if the information and records have been obtained through other sources.
(c) A person other than a Committee member who appears before or participates in the Committee's review of maternal mortalities shall sign a confidentiality agreement acknowledging that any information provided to the Committee is confidential; provided, that any such confidentiality agreement shall account for situations where disclosure is necessary for the person to comply with a request for information from the Committee.
(d) Committee meetings shall be subject to subchapter IV of Chapter 5 of Title 2, except that Committee meetings shall be closed when the Committee is discussing cases of individual maternal deaths or where the identity of any person, other than a person who has expressly consented to be identified, can be ascertained.
(e) Committee members may disclose information and records related to the Committee only as necessary to carry out the Committee's duties and purposes.
(f) This section shall not be construed to prohibit a person from:
(1) Disclosing information that the person obtained independently of the Committee; or
(2) Disclosing information that is already public.
(June 5, 2018, D.C. Law 22-111, § 7, 65 DCR 4278; Oct. 30, 2018, D.C. Law 22-168, § 3054(b), 65 DCR 9388.)
ApplicabilitySection 7033 of D.C. Law 22-168 repealed § 10 of D.C. Law 22-111 removing the applicability restriction impacting this section. Therefore the creation of this section by D.C. Law 22-111 has been given effect.
Applicability of D.C. Law 22-111: § 10 of D.C. Law 22-111 provided that the creation of this section by § 7 of D.C. Law 22-111 is subject to the inclusion of the law’s fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.