§ 31.37 Mental health incident review panels.\n (a) The commissioner shall establish no less than one mental health\nincident review panel per quarter to review the circumstances and events\nrelated to an incident involving a person with serious mental illness\noccurring in the community that involved the use of deadly physical\nforce, as defined by subdivision eleven of section 10.00 of the penal\nlaw, and resulted in serious physical injury, as defined by subdivision\nten of section 10.00 of the penal law, to another. In selecting an\nincident to be reviewed, the commissioner shall review requests from\nlocal governmental units, or non-governmental organizations or\nnot-for-profit entities involved with the provision of mental health\ncare or that represent the interests of people with mental illness and\nshall identify an incident appropriate for an incident review panel,\nconsistent with the purposes of this section.\n (a-1) The commissioner may establish, on their own accord, additional\nmental health incident review panels for the purposes of reviewing in\nconjunction with local representation, the circumstances and events\nrelated to a serious incident involving a person with mental illness.\nFor purposes of this section, a "serious incident involving a person\nwith mental illness" means an incident occurring in the community in\nwhich a person with a serious mental illness suffers physical injury as\ndefined in subdivision nine of section 10.00 of the penal law or causes\nsuch physical injury to another person, or suffers a serious and\npreventable medical complication or becomes involved in a criminal\nincident involving violence.\n (a-2) A panel established under this section shall conduct a review of\nsuch incident for the purpose of identifying problems or gaps in mental\nhealth delivery systems and to make recommendations for corrective\nactions to improve the provision of mental health or related services,\nto improve the coordination, integration and accountability of care in\nthe mental health service system, and to enhance individual and public\nsafety.\n (b) A mental health incident review panel shall include\nrepresentatives from the office of mental health, the division of\ncriminal justice services, and the chief executive officer or designee\nof the local governmental unit where the serious incident involving a\nperson with a mental illness occurred. A mental health incident review\npanel may also include, if deemed appropriate by the commissioner based\non the nature of the serious incident being reviewed, one or more\nrepresentatives from mental health providers, local departments of\nsocial services, human services programs, hospitals, local schools,\nemergency medical or mental health services, the office of the county\nattorney, state or local police agencies, the office of the medical\nexaminer or the office of the coroner, the judiciary, or other\nappropriate state or local officials; provided, however, that a local\nlaw enforcement official may not serve as a member of such a review\npanel if such local law enforcement official's office or agency is\ndirectly involved in any ongoing investigation or prosecution of a crime\nunder review by the panel, or any appeal of a criminal conviction for\nsuch crime.\n (c) (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary and\nto the extent consistent with federal law, a mental health incident\nreview panel shall have access to those relevant client-identifiable\nmental health records, as well as all records, documentation and reports\nrelating to the investigation of an incident by the justice center,\npursuant to article twenty of the executive law and an incident by a\nfacility in accordance with regulations of the commissioner, which are\nnecessary for the investigation of the serious incident involving a\nperson with mental illness and the preparation of a report of such\nincident, as provided in subdivision (e) of this section. A mental
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