§ 71-3411. Information and records; confidentiality; release; conditions; disclosure; limitations.
AI-assisted research summary: Certain team records are confidential, and team members generally may not disclose meeting information or testify about it; limited de-identified disclosures are allowed under specified conditions.
(1)(a) All information and records acquired by the teams in the exercise of their purposes and duties pursuant to the Child and Maternal Death Review Act shall be confidential and exempt from disclosure and may only be disclosed as provided in this section and as provided in section 71-3407. Statistical compilations of data made by the teams which do not contain any information that would permit the identification of any person to be ascertained shall be public records. (b) De-identified information and records obtained by the teams may be released to a researcher, upon proof of identity and qualifications of the researcher, if the researcher is employed by a research organization, university, institution, or government agency and is conducting scientific, medical, or public health research and if there is no publication or disclosure of any name or facts that could lead to the identity of any person included in the information or records. Such release shall provide for a written agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services providing protection of the security of the content of the information, including access limitations, storage of the information, destruction of the information, and use of the information. The release of such information pursuant to this subdivision shall not make otherwise confidential information a public record. (c) De-identified information and records obtained by the teams may be released to the United States Public Health Service or its successor, a government health agency, or a local public health department as defined in section 71-1626 if there is no publication or disclosure of any name or facts that could lead to the identity of any person included in the information or records. Such release shall provide for protection of the security of the content of the information, including access limitations, storage of the information, destruction of the information, and use of the information. The release of such information pursuant to this subdivision shall not make otherwise confidential information a public record. (2) Except as necessary to carry out the teams' purposes and duties, members of the teams and persons attending team meetings may not disclose what transpired at the meetings and shall not disclose any information the disclosure of which is prohibited by this section. (3) Members of the teams and persons attending team meetings shall not testify in any civil, administrative, licensure, or criminal proceeding, including depositions, regarding information reviewed in or opinions formed as a result of team meetings. This subsection shall not be construed to prevent a person from testifying to information obtained independently of the teams or which is public information. (4) Information, documents, and records of the teams shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding, except that information, documents, and records otherwise available from other sources shall not be immune from subpoena, discovery, or introduction into evidence through those sources solely because they were presented during proceedings of the teams or are maintained by the teams. History: Laws 1993, LB 431, § 8; Laws 2013, LB361, § 8; Laws 2022, LB741, § 54.