An Act to Establish the Suicide Mortality Review Panel

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STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SIX
_____
H.P. 1423 - L.D. 2108
An Act to Establish the Suicide Mortality Review Panel
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, Maine has one of the highest suicide rates in New England, with a suicide
rate consistently above the national average; and
Whereas, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for Maine residents who are 10 to
24 years of age, highlighting an urgent need to identify targeted prevention efforts for youth
and young adults; and
Whereas, Maine recently completed a comprehensive, cross-sector planning process,
jointly funded by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, to plan for the implementation of a panel designed to conduct thorough
and thoughtful retrospective case reviews of individuals who died by suicide in an effort to
identify policy and systems gaps that, if addressed, could reduce the incidence of death by
suicide in Maine; and
Whereas, Maine has several retrospective mortality review panels, but none focused
specifically on deaths by suicide, and establishing such a panel as soon as possible is
essential to strengthening the State’s suicide prevention efforts by providing a deeper
understanding of the factors leading to these deaths; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now,
therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §266 is enacted to read:
§266. Suicide Mortality Review Panel
1. Panel established. The Suicide Mortality Review Panel is established to review
deaths by suicide.
APPROVED
MARCH 23, 2026
BY GOVERNOR
CHAPTER
586
PUBLIC LAW
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2. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the
following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Director" means the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and
Prevention.
B. "Next of kin" means a living relative of a deceased individual, as determined in
accordance with the order of priority established under applicable state law for
purposes of inheritance or notification. "Next of kin" includes, but is not limited to:
(1) A surviving spouse or domestic partner;
(2) An adult child;
(3) A parent; and
(4) An adult sibling.
"Next of kin" may also include a legal guardian or any other individual identified as a
primary contact person or personal representative of the deceased individual.
C. "Panel" means the Suicide Mortality Review Panel established in subsection 1.
D. "Panel coordinator" means an employee of the Maine Center for Disease Control
and Prevention who is appointed by the director.
E. "Record" means any written, electronic, oral or recorded information, document,
report or material that is created, received, maintained or possessed by any person,
agency, organization or entity in connection with an individual's health, behavior,
social services, education, legal matters or circumstances surrounding the individual's
death.
F. "Suicide" means the act of intentionally causing one's own death. "Suicide" includes
deaths that are:
(1) Confirmed suicides, as determined by a medical examiner, coroner or other
authorized official;
(2) Suspected suicides, for which the circumstances, evidence or history
reasonably indicate an intentional self-inflicted death, even if the official manner
of death has not been conclusively determined; and
(3) Undetermined deaths, for which intent is unclear but suicide cannot be ruled
out based on the available evidence.
3. Composition. The panel consists of health care and social service providers, public
health officials, persons with experience working with veterans and military service-
connected individuals, persons who provide services to youth, law enforcement officers
and first responders and other persons with professional expertise or lived experience
related to suicide. The director shall appoint the members of the panel, who serve at the
pleasure of the director. Individuals with unique expertise may be invited as guests by the
panel coordinator to support case reviews as necessary. Any guests of the panel are subject
to the same confidentiality requirements as panel members pursuant to subsection 9.
4. Terms; meetings; chair. The term for each member of the panel is 3 years, except
that members serve at the pleasure of the director. A member may serve until a successor
has been appointed. Members may be reappointed. A vacancy must be filled as soon as
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practicable by appointment for the unexpired term. The panel shall meet at least 4 times
each year and sufficiently frequently to carry out its duties and to guarantee the timely and
comprehensive reviews of all deaths as required in this section. The director or the
director's designee shall call the first meeting. The panel shall elect a chair from among its
members annually.
5. Contact with next of kin. The first contact pursuant to this section with the next
of kin of an individual who died by suicide may not occur prior to 4 months after the death
of the individual and must:
A. Be by letter from the director on letterhead of the Maine Center for Disease Control
and Prevention;
B. Include an invitation to participate in a voluntary interview about the deceased
individual by the panel coordinator or a designated next of kin interviewer; and
C. Include information on services available to the next of kin in the aftermath of a
suicide.
6. Panel coordinator; appointment; powers and duties. The director shall appoint
an employee of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to serve as the panel
coordinator. The panel coordinator must have completed a nationally certified training
program for conducting death investigations or must complete the training within 6 months
of appointment as panel coordinator. The panel coordinator has the following powers and
duties.
A. The panel coordinator shall conduct preliminary reviews of all deaths by suicide.
B. The panel coordinator may access the following records:
(1) Death certificates;
(2) Autopsy, medical examiner and coroner reports;
(3) State-level data collected and reported in the United States Department of
Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National
Violent Death Reporting System;
(4) Emergency medical personnel reports and documentation;
(5) Health care information pursuant to section 1711-C, subsection 6, paragraph
X. For the purposes of this subparagraph, "health care information" has the same
meaning as in section 1711-C, subsection 1, paragraph E;
(6) Military service information;
(7) Police investigation records and other law enforcement records; and
(8) Social services records.
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the panel coordinator has access
to information or records from the department determined by the panel coordinator to
be necessary to carry out the panel coordinator's duties. The department shall provide
the panel coordinator with direct access to the information or records or provide the
information or records necessary and relevant as soon as practicable upon oral or
written request of the panel coordinator.
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C. The panel coordinator may conduct voluntary interviews with parties that may have
relevant information for a preliminary review.
(1) The purpose of an interview must be limited to gathering information or data
for the panel, provided in summary or abstract form without family names or
identification of the deceased individual.
(2) The panel coordinator may delegate the responsibility to conduct interviews
pursuant to this paragraph to an individual who has completed a nationally certified
training program for conducting critical incident or death investigations.
(3) An individual conducting an interview under this paragraph may make a
referral for bereavement counseling if indicated for and desired by the individual
being interviewed.
D. The panel coordinator shall try to minimize the burden imposed on health care
providers, hospitals and social service providers.
E. The panel coordinator shall prepare a summary and abstract of relevant trends in
deaths of the population of individuals who died by suicide for comparison to cases
reviewed by the panel pursuant to subsection 7.
F. The panel coordinator shall prepare a review, summary or abstract of information
regarding each case, as determined to be useful to the panel and at a time determined
to be timely, without the name or identifier of the deceased individual, to be presented
to the panel.
G. The panel coordinator shall, in conjunction with the department, establish and
maintain in a confidential manner a state mortality database that includes, but is not
limited to, the following information regarding death by suicide:
(1) Name, age, sex and race or ethnicity of the deceased individual;
(2) Description of the events leading to the death of the individual and the
immediate circumstances of the death;
(3) Location of the death, such as the home, community setting, hospital or
hospice;
(4) Immediate and secondary causes of death;
(5) Whether an autopsy was conducted and a narrative of any findings from the
autopsy;
(6) Findings of the preliminary reviews of all deaths by the panel coordinator
pursuant to paragraph A;
(7) Findings of the comprehensive reviews by the panel pursuant to subsection 7;
and
(8) Recommendations for corrective actions pursuant to subsection 7, paragraph
B issued by the panel and information related to the implementation of those
recommended corrective actions.
H. The panel coordinator shall determine the records that are made available to the
panel for the purposes of reviewing cases of death by suicide. The panel coordinator
shall maintain custody of all records.
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7. Panel; powers and duties. The panel shall conduct comprehensive
multidisciplinary reviews of data presented by the panel coordinator.
A. The panel shall review all cases of death by suicide that are referred by the panel
coordinator. A review of a case by the panel is a comprehensive evaluation of the
circumstances surrounding the death, including the overall care of the individual who
died by suicide, quality of life issues, the death event and the medical care that preceded
and followed the event.
B. The panel shall submit a report, no later than January 2nd of each year beginning
in 2027, to the Governor, the commissioner and the joint standing committee of the
Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters. The report
must contain the following:
(1) Factors contributing to suicide-related mortality;
(2) Strengths and weaknesses of the system of care;
(3) Recommendations for the commissioner to decrease the rate of death by
suicide;
(4) Recommendations about methods to improve the system for prevention of
death by suicide, including modifications to law, rules, training, policies and
procedures;
(5) Recommendations for improving the availability of sources of information
relating to the investigation of reported deaths by suicide; and
(6) Any other information the panel considers necessary.
C. The panel shall offer a copy of the annual report under paragraph B to any party
who granted permission for an interview conducted by the panel coordinator pursuant
to subsection 6, paragraph C.
D. Following the submission of the annual report to the Governor, the commissioner
and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and
human services matters pursuant to paragraph B, the report must be released to the
public.
E. In addition to the annual report under paragraph B, the panel may periodically make
available, in a general manner that does not reveal confidential information about
individual cases, only the aggregate findings of the panel's reviews and the panel's
recommendations for preventive actions to allow for timely consideration and
implementation of those actions.
F. The panel shall coordinate with the State's child death and serious injury review
panel; maternal, fetal and infant mortality review panel; Accidental Drug Overdose
Death Review Panel; and any other statutorily established mortality review panel that
reviews cases of individuals who died by suicide to share and receive information
relevant to the panel's findings and to ensure efficiency in the work of the review
panels.
8. Access to information and records. In any case subject to review by the panel
under subsection 7, upon oral or written request of the panel, notwithstanding any provision
of law to the contrary, a person that possesses information or records that are necessary and
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relevant to a panel review shall as soon as practicable provide the panel with the
information or records. A person disclosing or providing information or records upon
request of the panel is not civilly or criminally liable for disclosing or providing information
or records in compliance with this subsection.
9. Confidentiality. Records held by the panel coordinator or the panel are confidential
to the same extent they are confidential while in the custody of the entity that provided the
record to the panel coordinator or the panel. Records relating to interviews conducted
pursuant to subsection 6, paragraph C by the panel coordinator and proceedings of the panel
are confidential and are not subject to subpoena, discovery or introduction into evidence in
a civil or criminal action. The commissioner shall disclose conclusions of the panel upon
request, but may not disclose information, records or data that are otherwise classified as
confidential.
10. Rulemaking. The department shall adopt rules to implement this section,
including rules on collecting information and data, for the use of a standardized review
tool, establishing time frames for reviews, identifying criteria for prioritizing cases
involving individuals from vulnerable populations for case review, selecting and setting
any limits on the number of terms for the members of the panel, managing and avoiding
conflicts of interest of members of the panel, collecting and using individually identifiable
health information and conducting reviews. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are
routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §1711-C, sub-§6, ¶V, as amended by PL 2025, c. 332, §2, is
further amended to read:
V. To a panel coordinator of the Aging and Disability Mortality Review Panel pursuant
to section 264, subsection 5, paragraph B, subparagraph (4) for the purposes of
reviewing health care information of an adult receiving services who is deceased, in
accordance with section 264, subsection 5, paragraph A. For purposes of this
paragraph, "panel coordinator" has the same meaning as in section 264, subsection 2,
paragraph B; and
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §1711-C, sub-§6, ¶W, as enacted by PL 2025, c. 332, §3, is
amended to read:
W. To the medical director of the Office of Child and Family Services or a child and
adolescent psychiatric consultant or nurse consultant employed by the Office of Child
and Family Services, or to case aide staff when acting under the direction of the medical
director or a child and adolescent psychiatric consultant or nurse consultant employed
by the Office of Child and Family Services, for the exclusive purpose of coordinating
health care of an individual who has not attained 18 years of age and is in the
department's custody pursuant to chapter 1071. The department shall request records
directly from the individual's providers. Disclosure under this paragraph may include
allowing access to health information from a state-designated statewide health
information exchange. Information accessed through a state-designated statewide
health information exchange may be used only for understanding and providing
continuity of treatment with regard to any current health conditions, medications and
immediate medical needs of the individual.; and
Sec. 4. 22 MRSA §1711-C, sub-§6, ¶X is enacted to read:
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X. To a panel coordinator of the Suicide Mortality Review Panel pursuant to section
266, subsection 6, paragraph B, subparagraph (5) for the purposes of reviewing health
care information of an individual who died by suicide, in accordance with section 266,
subsection 6, paragraph A. For purposes of this paragraph, "panel coordinator" has the
same meaning as in section 266, subsection 2, paragraph D.
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation
takes effect when approved.