HEA 1571 Summary

• Amends Indiana Code 36-2-14-18 to establish when coroners must make autopsy reports available to hospital peer review committees upon written request for purposes of the hospital's peer review activities.

• Autopsy reports provided to hospital peer review committees cannot include photographs, video recordings, or audio recordings and are confidential and protected from further disclosure unless otherwise authorized by law.

• Coroners may delay providing requested autopsy reports to hospital peer review committees if immediately disclosing the information would interfere with the coroner's investigation or other legal proceedings related to the death.

• Maintains existing provisions allowing parents, adult children, next of kin, and insurance companies to request full autopsy reports (excluding photographs and video/audio recordings), with restrictions on public disclosure of the information.

• Provides child fatality review committees and child protective services agencies access to complete autopsy reports including photographs and recordings for purposes of investigating whether a child's death resulted from abuse, abandonment, or neglect.