Florida Senate - 2019                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 452
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì584510vÎ584510                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
       (Gibson) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment 
    2  
    3         Delete lines 90 - 185
    4  and insert:
    5         (f) A review team shall determine the local operations of
    6  the team, including, but not limited to, the process for case
    7  selection. Reviews must be limited to closed cases in which an
    8  elderly person’s death is alleged or found to have been caused
    9  by, or related to, abuse or neglect. All identifying information
   10  concerning the person must be redacted in documents received for
   11  review. The review team shall meet at least once each fiscal
   12  year.
   13         (g) Administrative costs of operating the review team must
   14  be borne by the team members or entities that they represent.
   15         (2) An elder abuse fatality review team in existence on
   16  July 1, 2019, may continue to exist and shall comply with the
   17  requirements created in this section.
   18         (3) An elder abuse fatality review team shall do all of the
   19  following:
   20         (a) Review deaths of elderly persons in its judicial
   21  circuit alleged or found to have been caused by, or related to,
   22  abuse or neglect.
   23         (b) Consider the events leading up to a fatal incident,
   24  available community resources, current law and policies, and the
   25  actions taken by systems or individuals related to the fatal
   26  incident.
   27         (c) Identify potential gaps, deficiencies, or problems in
   28  the delivery of services to elderly persons by public and
   29  private agencies which may be related to deaths reviewed by the
   30  review team.
   31         (d) Whenever possible, develop communitywide approaches to
   32  address causes of, and contributing factors to, deaths reviewed
   33  by the review team.
   34         (e) Develop recommendations and potential changes in law,
   35  rules, and policies to support the care of elderly persons and
   36  to prevent elder abuse deaths.
   37         (4)(a) Review teams in this state may share with each other
   38  any relevant information that pertains to the review of the
   39  death of an elderly person.
   40         (b) A review team member may not contact, interview, or
   41  obtain information by request directly from a member of the
   42  deceased elder’s family as part of the review unless a team
   43  member is authorized to do so in the course of his or her
   44  employment duties. A member of the deceased elder’s family may
   45  voluntarily provide information or records to a review team but
   46  must be informed that their information or records are subject
   47  to public disclosure unless a public records exemption applies.
   48         (5)(a) Annually by September 1, each elder abuse fatality
   49  review team shall submit a summary report to the Department of
   50  Elderly Affairs which includes, but is not limited to:
   51         1. Descriptive statistics regarding cases reviewed by the
   52  review team, including demographic information on victims and
   53  the causes and nature of deaths;
   54         2. Current policies, procedures, rules, or statutes that
   55  the review team identified as contributing to the incidence of
   56  elder abuse and elder deaths, and recommendations for system
   57  improvements and needed resources, training, or information
   58  dissemination to address those identified issues; and
   59         3. Any other recommendations to prevent deaths from elder
   60  abuse or neglect, based on an analysis of the data and
   61  information presented in the report.
   62         (b) Annually by November 1, the Department of Elderly
   63  Affairs shall prepare a summary report of the review team
   64  information required under paragraph (a). The department shall
   65  provide the summary report to the Governor, the President of the
   66  Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the
   67  Department of Children and Families.
   68         (6) There is no monetary liability on the part of, and a
   69  cause of action for damages may not arise against, any member of
   70  an elder abuse fatality review team due to the performance of
   71  his or her duties as a review team member in regard to any
   72  discussions by, or deliberations or recommendations of, the team
   73  or the member, unless such member acted in bad faith, with
   74  wanton and willful disregard of human rights, safety, or
   75  property.