Research on child fatalities hampered by law

David Kihara

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

Knowing how and why teens die or commit suicide helps policymakers identify issues and, hopefully, can prevent future deaths, but federal laws prevent them from getting all of the details.

Members of Clark County's group that examines child deaths previously sought detailed records on teen suicides and other fatalities from the Clark County School District. The records include a deceased student's drug abuse history, behavioral problems or counseling records.

"They're looking for things like whether the student (who committed suicide) went through counseling at the school," said Mike Murphy, Clark County coroner and a member of the team that reviews child deaths.

The information helps the team learn from each fatality and recognize patterns or trends that might help in preventing future deaths, he said.

But the School District is bound by federal privacy laws that keep personal student information under lock and key except under certain circumstances, said Bill Hoffman, senior counsel for the district.

"Counseling records or discipline records are clearly within the scope" of records that are not released to the public under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, he said.

The Child Death Review Team of Clark County, made up of doctors, law enforcement officials, Child Protective Services workers and others, meets monthly to review every death of minors in Southern Nevada. The team looks at the circumstances surrounding the deaths -- the medical causes as well as other factors such as the child's mental state or if the child had previous counseling -- and tries to spot trends or issues.

The information is then sent to the state, which compiles the information and makes recommendations in an annual child death report. The reports never include personal information on the deceased youths, such as names or where they lived, and the meetings are closed to the public.

The five child death teams in the state reviewed 304 child death cases out of a total of 645 referred during 2002-03, the year of the most recent study. The state also reported that getting detailed information has been a long-running issue. In 2002-03, the report stressed that the teams needed better access to individual records that goes beyond the "cursory paper review of child deaths that currently exist," the report stated.

On Thursday, a member of the Clark County team, Dr. Neha Mehta, told a legislative subcommittee that it had some difficulty in getting records from the School District as well as juvenile justice and mental health departments.

The School District says it can release personal educational records -- but it needs parental consent or a court order to do it

"Clearly, we will supply the information, but we have to do it within the guidelines of the law," Hoffman said, adding that he couldn't recall a time when the records were subpoenaed for the death review team.

David Kihara can be reached at 259-2330 or at davidk@lasvegassun.com.