Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) Whenever any woman
shall die as the result of pregnancy or of childbirth, or as the result of any
complications arising from or following upon pregnancy or childbirth, the fact
of such death shall be reported forthwith to the Chief Health Officer by the
medical practitioner and any nurse who were at the time of the death attending
such woman.
(2) On receiving the
report, the Chief Health Officer must, by notice in writing signed by the
Chief Health Officer —
(a)
direct the investigator appointed under Part XIIIA to inquire into the
circumstances of the death; and
(b)
require the investigator to present to the Chairperson of the Maternal
Mortality Committee appointed under that Part, within a time specified in the
notice, a full report of the investigation made by the investigator.
(3) The report of the
investigator presented to the Chairperson shall be in the form of a connected
medical case history relating to the deceased woman but shall not contain any
particulars from which it may be possible to ascertain the identity of that
woman.
(4) For the purposes
of this section all information, records of interviews, reports, statements,
memoranda or other particulars obtained by the investigator during an
investigation made by the investigator pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall be confidential and shall not be communicated or divulged,
either in whole or in part, by the investigator to any person other than the
Chairperson of the Maternal Mortality Committee, or by the Chairperson or any
other member of the Committee, except for the purposes and in accordance with
the provisions of Part XIIIA.
(5) Information,
records of interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and other particulars
referred to in subsection (4) are not admissible in any court or before any
tribunal, board or person in any action, cause or inquiry of any kind
whatsoever.
(5a) A person employed
by or acting with or under the instructions or under the authority of the
Maternal Mortality Committee who exhibits, communicates or divulges in whole
or in part any information, record of interview, report, statement, memorandum
or other particular referred to in subsection (4) except for the purposes of,
and in accordance with, Part XIIIA commits an offence.
(6) No person,
corporate body, association, or institution shall be liable in any action for
damages or other relief by reason of the furnishing to the investigator, or to
the Maternal Mortality Committee, of any information, record, report,
statement, memorandum or particulars referred to in subsection (4).
(7) Nothing in this
section shall prejudice or otherwise affect any of the provisions of the
Coroners Act 1996 , or of any other Act so far as the same relates to
prosecutions for indictable and other offences and the obtaining and adducing
of evidence relative thereto, but this section shall be read and construed as
separate and distinct from the provisions of those Acts.
[Section 336 inserted: No. 32 of 1937 s. 9;
amended: No. 23 of 1960 s. 3; No. 28 of 1984 s. 45; No. 80 of 1987 s. 152; No.
2 of 1996 s. 61; No. 19 of 2016 s. 37 and 100.]