Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2023
Impact
The implications of SB635 extend to state laws regarding medical malpractice and the rights of minors in healthcare decisions. Should this bill be enacted, it would create significant legal precedents regarding how gender transition procedures are handled in medical practices across states. Additionally, it would prevent any state mandating such procedures from receiving federal funding, thereby influencing state-level policies about gender transition healthcare for minors.
Summary
SB635, titled the 'Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2023', seeks to address the management of gender transition procedures performed on minors. The bill establishes that medical practitioners who perform these procedures may be held liable for any injury caused to minors, allowing individuals or their representatives to initiate civil legal actions up to 30 years after the individual turns 18. This includes claims for compensatory damages, punitive damages, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. The bill emphasizes parental involvement and protection of minors against potential malpractice related to gender transition.
Contention
Debate around SB635 has been contentious, focusing on issues of medical ethics, parental rights, and the autonomy of minors regarding their health decisions. Proponents argue that the bill is essential for protecting vulnerable children from potential harms associated with irreversible medical procedures. Opponents contend that it could hinder access to necessary healthcare and restrict medical professionals' rights to provide care based on established medical standards. The nuances of the definitions of gender transition procedures within the bill further spark debates on biological sex versus gender identity in health care contexts.
Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2025This bill makes a medical practitioner who performs a gender-transition procedure on an individual who is less than 18 years of age liable for any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms from the procedure for 30 years after the individual turns 18.Additionally, if a state requires medical practitioners to perform gender-transition procedures, that state shall be ineligible for federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services.Under the bill, gender-transition procedures generally include certain surgeries or hormone therapies that change the body of an individual to correspond to a sex that is discordant with the individual's biological sex. They exclude, however, interventions to treat (1) individuals who either have ambiguous external biological sex characteristics or lack a normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action; (2) infections, injuries, diseases, or disorders caused by a gender-transition procedure; or (3) a physical disorder, injury, or illness that places an individual in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily function.
To Amend The Protecting Minors From Medical Malpractice Act Of 2023; And To Include Gender-affirming Interventions As A Right Of Action For Medical Malpractice.