Alabama § 26-16-91 - Definitions.

§ 26-16-91. Definitions.

The following words and phrases have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) AUTOPSY. An external and internal examination, medical history, and record review.

(2) CHILD. A person who has not yet reached his or her eighteenth birthday.

(3) CHILD DEATHS TO BE REVIEWED. Those deaths which are unexpected or unexplained.

(4) COMMUNITY. The people and area within the local team jurisdiction.

(5) COUNTY. The county in which a deceased child resided prior to his or her death.

(6) INVESTIGATION. In the context of child death, includes all of the following:

a. A postmortem examination which may be limited to an external examination or may include an autopsy.

b. An inquiry by law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction into the circumstances of the death, including a scene investigation and interview with the child’s parents, guardians, or caretakers and the person who reported the child’s death.

c. A review of information regarding the child from relevant agencies, professionals, and providers of medical care.

(7) LOCAL TEAM. A multidisciplinary, multiagency child death review team established for a county or judicial circuit pursuant to Section 26-16-96.

(8) MEETING. In-person meetings and conferences as well as those through telephone and other live electronic means. Individual participation in meetings through electronic conferencing may be authorized through the state team chairperson or designee. Local teams may not meet by electronic means.

(9) PERSON ACTING IN A PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY. A health practitioner, law enforcement officer, employee of a local department of social services, undertaker, funeral home director or employee of a funeral home, or firefighter, who is acting in the course of his or her professional duties.

(10) PROVIDER OF MEDICAL CARE. Any health practitioner who personally provides, or a facility through which is provided, any medical evaluation or treatment, including dental and mental health evaluation or treatment.

(11) STATE TEAM. The State Child Death Review Team.

(12) UNEXPECTED/UNEXPLAINED. In referring to a child’s death, includes all deaths which, prior to investigation, appear possibly to have been caused by trauma, suspicious or obscure circumstances, child abuse or neglect, or other agents or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.