North Carolina General Statutes 90-21.154. Civil remedies
(a) Any (i) medical professional who performs a surgical gender transition procedure on a minor or who prescribes, provides, or dispenses puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to a minor and (ii) entity that employs or contracts with a medical professional who performs a surgical gender transition procedure on a minor or who prescribes, provides, or dispenses puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to a minor shall be liable to the minor for any physical, psychological, emotional, or physiological harms the minor suffers as a result of the surgical gender transition procedure, puberty-blocking drugs, or cross-sex hormones.
(b) A minor who suffers an injury described in subsection (a) of this section, or a parent or guardian of a minor who suffers an injury described in subsection (a) of this section, may bring a civil action within the latter of 25 years from the day the minor reaches 18 years of age or four years from the time of discovery by the injured party of both the injury and the causal relationship between the treatment and the injury against the offending medical professional or entity. If the minor who suffered any injury described in subsection (a) of this section is under a legal disability upon attaining 18 years of age, the time limitation in this subsection does not begin to run until that legal disability is removed. An individual commencing an action under this section may seek the following relief:
(1) Declaratory or injunctive relief.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 90-21.154
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
(2) Compensatory damages, including pain and suffering, loss of reputation, loss of income, and loss of consortium, which includes the loss of expectation of sharing parenthood.
(3) Punitive damages.
(4) Attorneys’ fees and court costs.
(5) Any other appropriate relief.
(c) Minors bringing an action under this section may do so through a parent or guardian prior to attaining majority and may do so in their own name after attaining majority. Notwithstanding N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-299, any action brought under this section may be commenced within the time frames described in subsection (b) of this section.
(d) N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.19(a) shall not apply to damages awarded in an action brought under this section.
(e) Medical professionals and entities employing or contracting with medical professionals may not seek a contractual waiver of the liability imposed under this section. Any attempted waiver is null and void. (2023-111, s. 2.)