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Senate approves bill allowing maternal mortality review committee access to psychiatric records
Summary
The Georgia Senate passed House Bill 89 to give the state Maternal Mortality Review Committee access to certain psychiatric and clinical records and to change how maternal deaths are routed for review. The measure passed the Senate 50-1.
The Georgia State Senate on Tuesday approved House Bill 89, a measure that expands the Maternal Mortality Review Committee's access to clinical records, including psychiatric records, as it reviews pregnancy-related deaths.
Supporters said the change responds to findings that mental-health causes—including suicide and overdose—are leading contributors to pregnancy-related deaths. "In 2022 it was found that the number one cause of maternal mortality was mental health and that included suicide and overdose," the senator who presented the bill told the chamber during debate.
The bill contains several parts: it authorizes the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) to obtain psychiatric and other clinical records for review; it revises which office receives referrals for maternal deaths so medical examiners, rather than regional perinatal centers, handle inquiries and autopsies; and it establishes a formal process for creating and periodically reviewing the state's regional perinatal center (RPC) designations. Senate debate noted there are currently six designated RPCs across Georgia.
Supporters argued the changes will help the MMRC identify system gaps and recommend policy or practice changes to reduce pregnancy-related deaths. Opponents did not press further amendments during the floor consideration. The Senate voted 50 in favor and 1 opposed; the committee report and the finance/health committee sponsorship were recorded on the floor. The transcript shows the bill was reported favorably out of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and carried to the floor for third reading and passage.
The bill text read aloud to the Senate included references to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated and to procedural revisions for medical-examiner inquiries. Specific next steps for enrollment or transmission to the governor were not stated in the floor transcript.
Vote: House Bill 89 passed the Senate, yeas 50, nays 1.
The change targets the state's efforts to understand and prevent pregnancy-related deaths by broadening the records available to the review committee and standardizing the referral path for maternal death investigations.
