Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2022
Bill: S.4457 | Sponsor: Sen. Cotton, Tom (R-AR)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Protecting Minors from Medical Malpractice Act of 2022
This 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.
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 protect children from medical malpractice in the form of gender 
                         transition procedures.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Minors from Medical 
Malpractice Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR A GENDER-TRANSITION PROCEDURE 
              PERFORMED ON A MINOR.

    (a) In General.--A medical practitioner, in any circumstance 
described in subsection (c), who performs a gender-transition procedure 
on an individual who is less than 18 years of age shall, as described 
in subsection (b), be liable to the individual if injured (including 
any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms) by such 
procedure, related treatment, or the aftereffects of the procedure or 
treatment.
    (b) Private Right of Action.--An individual covered by subsection 
(a) who receives a gender-transition procedure from a medical 
practitioner (or a representative, including a legal guardian, on 
behalf of such individual) may, not later than the day that is 30 years 
after the date on which the individual turns 18 years of age, bring a 
civil action against such medical practitioner in a court of competent 
jurisdiction for--
            (1) declaratory or injunctive relief;
            (2) compensatory damages;
            (3) punitive damages; and
            (4) attorney's fees and costs.
    (c) Circumstances.--For the purposes of subsection (a), the 
circumstances described in this subsection are that--
            (1) the medical practitioner or the individual receiving 
        the gender-transition procedure traveled in interstate or 
        foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, facility, 
        or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in 
        furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in 
        subsection (a);
            (2) the medical practitioner used a means, channel, 
        facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 
        in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described 
        in subsection (a);
            (3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or 
        indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct 
        described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, 
        or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or 
        affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
            (4) the medical practitioner transmitted in interstate or 
        foreign commerce any communication relating to or in 
        furtherance of the conduct described in subsection (a) using 
        any means, channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate 
        or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign 
        commerce by any means or in any manner, including by computer, 
        mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
            (5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that 
        has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to 
        perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
            (6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred within 
        the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United 
        States, or any territory or possession of the United States; or
            (7) the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise 
        occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.

SEC. 3. PRESERVING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND MEDICAL JUDGEMENT FOR 
              MEDICAL PROVIDERS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provision of Federal 
law shall require, or be construed to require, a medical practitioner 
to perform a gender-transition procedure.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FUNDING FOR CERTAIN STATES.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any State that requires 
medical practitioners to perform any gender-transition procedure on an 
individual in the State shall be ineligible to receive any Federal 
funding from the Department of Health and Human Services.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Biological sex.--The term ``biological sex'' means the 
        genetic classification of an individual as male or female, as 
        reflected in the organization of the body of such individual 
        for a reproductive role or capacity, such as through sex 
        chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and 
        external genitalia present at birth, without regard to the 
        subjective sense of identity of the individual.
            (2) Gender-transition procedure.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), the term ``gender-transition procedure'' means--
                            (i) the prescription or administration of 
                        puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose of 
                        changing the body of an individual so that it 
                        conforms to the subjective sense of identity of 
                        the individual, in the case such identity is at 
                        odds with the individual's biological sex;
                            (ii) the prescription or administration of 
                        cross-sex hormones for the purpose of changing 
                        the body of an individual so that it conforms 
                        to the subjective sense of identity of the 
                        individual, in the case such identity is at 
                        odds with the individual's biological sex; or
                            (iii) a surgery to change the body of an 
                        individual so that it conforms to the 
                        subjective sense of identity of the individual, 
                        in the case such identity is at odds with the 
                        individual's biological sex.
                    (B) Exception.--The term ``gender-transition 
                procedure'' does not include--
                            (i) an intervention described in 
                        subparagraph (A) that is performed on--
                                    (I) an individual with biological 
                                sex characteristics that are inherently 
                                ambiguous, such as those born with 46 
                                XX chromosomes with virilization, 46 XY 
                                chromosomes with undervirilization, or 
                                having both ovarian and testicular 
                                tissue; or
                                    (II) an individual with respect to 
                                whom a physician has determined through 
                                genetic or biochemical testing that the 
                                individual does not have normal sex 
                                chromosome structure, sex steroid 
                                hormone production, or sex steroid 
                                hormone action, for a biological male 
                                or biological female;
                            (ii) the treatment of any infection, 
                        injury, disease, or disorder that has been 
                        caused or exacerbated by the performance of an 
                        intervention described in subparagraph (A) 
                        without regard to whether the intervention was 
                        performed in accordance with State or Federal 
                        law or whether the intervention is covered by 
                        the private right of action under section 2; or
                            (iii) any procedure undertaken because the 
                        individual suffers from a physical disorder, 
                        physical injury, or physical illness that 
                        would, as certified by a physician, place the 
                        individual in imminent danger of death or 
                        impairment of major bodily function unless the 
                        procedure is performed.
            (3) Medical practitioner.--The term ``medical 
        practitioner'' means a person who is licensed, certified, or 
        otherwise authorized by the laws of a State to administer 
        health care in the ordinary course of the practice of the 
        person's profession.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
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