(a) A county may establish an interagency domestic violence death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing domestic violence deaths and near deaths, including homicides and suicides, and facilitating communication among the various agencies involved in domestic violence cases. Interagency domestic violence death review teams have been used successfully to ensure that incidents of domestic violence and abuse are recognized and that agency involvement is reviewed to develop recommendations for policies and protocols for community prevention and intervention initiatives to reduce and eradicate the incidence of domestic violence. (b) (1) For purposes of this section, âabuseâ has the meaning set forth in Section 6203 of the Family Code and âdomestic violenceâ has the meaning set forth in Section 6211 of the Family Code. (2) For purposes of this section, ânear deathâ means the victim suffered a life-threatening injury, as determined by a licensed physician or licensed nurse, as a result of domestic violence. (c) A county may develop a protocol that may be used as a guideline to assist coroners and other persons who perform autopsies on domestic violence victims in the identification of domestic violence, in the determination of whether domestic violence contributed to death or whether domestic violence had occurred prior to death, but was not the actual cause of death, and in the proper written reporting procedures for domestic violence, including the designation of the cause and mode of death. (d) County domestic violence death review teams shall be comprised of, but not limited to, the following: (1) Experts in the field of forensic pathology. (2) Medical personnel with expertise in domestic violence abuse. (3) Coroners and medical examiners. (4) Criminologists. (5) District attorneys and city attorneys. (6) Representatives of domestic violence victim service organizations, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code. (7) Law enforcement personnel. (8) Representatives of local agencies that are involved with domestic violence abuse reporting. (9) County health department staff who deal with domestic violence victimsâ health issues. (10) Representatives of local child abuse agencies. (11) Local professional associations of persons described in paragraphs (1) to (10), inclusive. (e) An oral or written communication or a document shared within or produced by a domestic violence death review team related to a domestic violence death review is confidential and not subject to disclosure or discoverable by a third party. An oral or written communication or a document provided by a third party to a domestic violence death review team, or between a third party and a domestic violence death review team, is confidential and not subject to disclosure or discoverable by a third party. This includes a statement provided by a survivor in a near-death case review. Notwithstanding the foregoing, recommendations of a domestic violence death review team upon the completion of a review may be disclosed at the discretion of a majority of the members of the domestic violence death review team. (f) Each organization represented on a domestic violence death review team may share with other members of the team information in its possession concerning the victim who is the subject of the review or any person who was in contact with the victim and any other information deemed by the organization to be pertinent to the review. Any information shared by an organization with other members of a team is confidential. This provision shall permit the disclosure to members of the team of any information deemed confidential, privileged, or prohibited from disclosure by any other statute. (g) Written and oral information may be disclosed to a domestic violence death review team established pursuant to this section. The team may make a request in writing for the information sought and any person with info
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