50-4-1405. Private cause of action for injuries caused by treatment of gender dysphoria -- statute of limitations -- definitions. (1) Any health care professional or physician who provides the medical treatments listed in subsection (4) to a minor may be subject to a civil action if the medical treatment results in any injury, including physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms, that is proximately caused by a deviation from the applicable medical standard of care of the health care professional or physician as established by qualified expert testimony.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), a person who suffers an injury described in subsection (1) or the person's legal guardian or estate may bring a civil action with respect to the injury within 2 years from the time of discovery by the injured party of both the injury and the causal relationship between the medical treatment and the injury against the offending health care professional or physician in a court of competent jurisdiction for:

(a) declaratory or injunctive relief;

(b) compensatory damages; and

(c) any other appropriate relief.

(3) (a) If the person subjected to medical treatment is under legal disability at the time the person discovers the injury and the causal relationship between the medical treatment and the injury, the limitation period in subsection (2) does not begin to run until the removal of the disability.

(b) The limitation period in subsection (2) does not run until the minor reaches the age of 23 or during a time period when the individual is subject to threats, intimidation, manipulation, fraudulent concealment, or fraud perpetrated by the health care professional or physician who provided the medical treatment described in subsection (1) or by any person acting in the interest of the health care professional or physician.

(4) (a) Except as provided in subsection (5), a health care professional or physician may be found liable under subsection (1) for an injury proximately caused by a deviation from the applicable medical standard of care of the health care professional or physician, as established by qualified expert testimony, in providing the following treatments to a minor female patient to address the patient's perception that the patient's gender or sex is not female:

(i) surgical procedures, including a vaginectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, ovariectomy, reconstruction of the urethra, metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, scrotoplasty, implantation of erection or testicular protheses, subcutaneous mastectomy, voice surgery, or pectoral implants;

(ii) supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or other androgens; or

(iii) puberty blockers such as GnRH agonists or other synthetic drugs that suppress the production of estrogen and progesterone to delay or suppress pubertal development in female minors.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (5), a health care professional or physician may be found liable under subsection (1) for an injury proximately caused by a deviation from the applicable medical standard of care of the health care professional or physician, as established by qualified expert testimony, in providing the following treatments to a minor male patient to address the patient's perception that the patient's gender or sex is not male:

(i) surgical procedures, including a penectomy, orchiectomy, vaginoplasty, clitoroplasty, vulvoplasty, augmentation mammoplasty, facial feminization surgery, voice surgery, thyroid cartilage reduction, or gluteal augmentation;

(ii) supraphysiologic doses of estrogen; or

(iii) puberty blockers such as GnRH agonists or other synthetic drugs that suppress the production of testosterone or delay or suppress pubertal development in male minors.

(5) The medical treatments listed in subsections (4)(a) and (4)(b) may be the basis of a claim under subsection (1) only when knowingly provided to address a minor female patient's perception that the patient's gender or sex is not female or a minor male patient's perception that the patient's gender or sex is not male and only when performed in a manner that deviates from the applicable medical standard of care as established by qualified expert testimony. Subsections (4)(a) and (4)(b) do not apply for other purposes, including:

(a) treatment for a person born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including:

(i) a person born with external biological sex characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous, including an individual born with 46 XX chromosomes with virilization, an individual born with 46 XY chromosomes with undervirilization, or an individual having both ovarian and testicular tissue; and

(ii) a person whom a physician has otherwise diagnosed with a disorder of sexual development in which the physician has determined through genetic or biochemical testing that the person does not have normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a male or female;

(b) treatment of any infection, injury, disease, or disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by a medical treatment listed in subsection (4)(a) or (4)(b), whether or not the medical treatment was performed in accordance with state and federal law and whether or not funding for the medical treatment is permissible under state and federal law; or

(c) any other clinically appropriate or evidence-based basis for the treatment.

(6) As used in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Female" means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XX chromosomes and produces or would produce relatively large, relatively immobile gametes, or eggs, during her life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. An individual who would otherwise fall within this definition, but for a biological or genetic condition, is female for the purposes of this section.

(b) "Gender" means the psychological, behavioral, social, and cultural aspects of being male or female.

(c) "Health care professional" means a person who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of the practice of the person's profession.

(d) "Male" means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XY chromosomes and produces or would produce small, mobile gametes, or sperm, during his life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. An individual who would otherwise fall within this definition, but for a biological or genetic condition, is male for the purposes of this section.

(e) "Physician" means a person who is licensed to practice medicine in this state.

(f) "Sex" means the organization of body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. In human beings, there are exactly two sexes, male and female, with two corresponding types of gametes. The sexes are determined by the biological and genetic indication of male or female, including sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex chromosomes, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual's psychological, behavioral, social, cultural, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.