Idaho bill creates system to review child deaths

BOISE – Idaho is the only state in the nation that has no system for reviewing child deaths, but that would change under legislation that cleared a House committee Tuesday.

“Children by and large are healthy and resilient, and the No. 1 cause for death is often accidents, which by their very nature have the ability to be prevented,” state Rep. Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, told the House Health and Welfare Committee. “Child safety experts agree that diagnosing the cause of death … is essential to saving lives in the future.”

Idaho had a multidisciplinary team of doctors, law enforcement officials and others reviewing child deaths from 1997 to 2003, established by executive order of three successive governors. But the group disbanded in 2003, in part because of difficulty obtaining records after the passage of federal medical privacy legislation.

The new legislation would set up the review team under state law, giving it full confidentiality, immunity from subpoena, and the ability to access all records about unexpected child deaths in Idaho.

The purpose, said Henbest and co-sponsor Rep. Russ Mathews, R-Idaho Falls, isn’t to second-guess the investigations of past child deaths – it’s to spot trends and prevent future child deaths.

Henbest, a pediatric nurse practitioner, offered an example: She was taught in nursing school that it was best to place sleeping babies on their stomachs, so they didn’t choke if they spit up. But studies of unexplained infant deaths found higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome among babies sleeping on their stomachs – prompting new advice to parents to place infants on their backs instead. As a result, SIDS rates declined.

Findings of Idaho’s past child death review panels helped lead to a SIDS education program for Idaho parents; new seat belt laws; programs on safe firearms storage in homes with children; a canal safety and fencing program; and child car safety restraint education programs for parents.

State Rep. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, said if other states are looking at these issues, an Idaho review program would be duplicative. “Why do we need an Idaho-specific team? Have we invented new ways of dying in Idaho?” he asked.

Henbest responded that child death reviews in other states wouldn’t necessarily point out risks to Idaho children. “The information that tells us something about the risks to children in our own communities is what we’re going to gather,” she said.

Michelle Britton, director of family and community services for the state Department of Health and Welfare, said Idaho now has no mechanism to examine child deaths to look for trends or lessons.

After much debate and many questions, the House Health and Welfare Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the bill with amendments, including a five-year expiration for the new review panel. Henbest said she was fine with that, because lawmakers can review its work in five years and decide then whether to continue it.

“If this is good policy now, it’ll be good policy in five years,” she said.