A plain-language guide to Wisconsin's new fatality review law
On April 2, 2026, Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 192 into law as 2025 Wisconsin Act 148, creating Wisconsin Statutes Section 250.22. This is the first statutory framework for multidisciplinary fatality review teams in Wisconsin.
The law provides a permissive framework. It does not create a state-level oversight structure, does not impose mandates on any entity, and does not require funding. Instead, it provides the legal scaffolding and protections that make fatality review possible, while leaving decisions about whether and how to form a team entirely in local hands.
The law was published on April 3, 2026, and takes effect on May 1, 2027.
The enacted law is available at docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/acts/148
Section 250.22(1)(d) defines "reviewable deaths" to include:
Excludes deaths subject to review under Wis. Stat. 175.47 (officer-involved deaths in line of duty).
The law defines the purpose of fatality review teams as gathering information about reviewable deaths to examine risk factors and circumstances, and to understand how deaths could have been prevented through:
If established, each team must: establish and implement a protocol; collect and maintain data; create strategies and track prevention recommendations; and evaluate the team's process, collaboration, and implementation of recommendations.
Teams are required to enter data regarding each reviewable death into a secure database.
Section 250.22(2)(c) authorizes teams to be provided with records from 17 categories of sources, if the records pertain to a person or incident within the scope of the review:
The Act also amends existing statutes to specifically authorize disclosure of patient health care records (Sec. 146.82), mental health treatment records (Sec. 51.30), child welfare and juvenile court records (Secs. 48.396, 48.78, 48.981, 938.396, 938.78), and prescription drug monitoring records (Sec. 961.385).
Section 250.22(3) provides strong confidentiality protections that are essential to effective review:
Teams may disclose information publicly only if: (a) the disclosure serves the team's purpose; (b) the information does not identify individuals; (c) it does not contain addresses other than zip codes; (d) it does not contain dates other than the year; and (e) it does not contain conclusory information attributing fault. Statistical or aggregate data and team reports may be treated as public information if they meet these criteria.
Section 250.22(3)(g) provides that any person participating in a fatality review team meeting is immune from civil or criminal liability for any good faith act or omission in connection with providing information, recommendations, or conclusions. This immunity applies to persons conducting the review as well as persons providing information or records. Participants are presumed to be acting in good faith.
Section 250.22(4) provides that team meetings are closed to the public and exempt from Wisconsin's open meetings law. Teams may hold public meetings to share summary findings and recommendations, but during public meetings no person may disclose information about agency involvement with a deceased individual, a family member or caretaker, or an individual convicted of or adjudicated for a related crime.
Section 250.22(2)(d) provides that team members may include: