HB 1872

This bill authorizes an individual 18 or older ("person"") to bring a civil action to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney fees, court costs, and expenses against a healthcare professional for an injury that is a result of a medical procedure, if both of the following criteria are met:  The medical procedure was for the purpose of enabling the person to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the person's sex or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the person's sex and asserted identity . As used in this provision, ""sex"" means a person's immutable characteristics of the reproductive system that define the individual as male or female, as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.  The person consented, or if the person was a minor at the time of the medical procedure, the person's parent, guardian, or legal representative consented, in whole or in part, due to an act of coercion by the healthcare professional. ""MEDICAL PROCEDURE"" DEFINED As used in this bill, a ""medical procedure"" means (i) s urgically removing, modifying, altering, or entering into tissues, cavities, or organs of a human being; or ( ii ) p rescribing, administering, or dispensing any puberty blocker or hormone to a human being . STATUE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CIVIL ACTIONS I f the medical procedure occurred before the effective date of this bill, this bill requires a civil action described above to be brought in accordance with present law, which generally has a statute of limitations of one to three years. However, i f the medical procedure occurs on or after the effective date of this bill, then a civil action described above must be brough t no later than 18 years after the later of ( i ) t he date the medical procedure occurred or ( ii ) i f the injury was not known to the perso n at the time of the medical procedure, the date the person first obtained knowledge of the injury that resulted from the medical procedure."