North Carolina HB 519: FEED LAW CHANGES

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 2
HOUSE BILL 519
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/29/25

Short Title: Parents' Medical Bill of Rights. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 27, 2025
*H519-v-2*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT REVISING THE LAWS REGARDING WHEN MINORS CAN GIVE EFFECTIVE 2
CONSENT TO MEDICAL TREATMENT ON THEIR OWN AUTHORITY AND WHEN 3
PARENTS ARE ALLOWED ACCESS TO MINORS' MEDICAL RECORDS. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
SECTION 1. Part 1 of Article 1A of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes reads as 6
rewritten: 7
"Article 1A. 8
"Treatment of Minors. 9
"Part 1. General Provisions. 10
"§ 90-21.1. When physician providers may treat minor without consent of parent, guardian 11
or person in loco parentis. 12
It shall be lawful for any physician physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner 13
licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina to render treatment to any minor without first 14
obtaining the consent and approval of either the father or mother of said child, or any person 15
acting as guardian, or any person standing in loco parentis to said child where: 16
(1) The parent or parents, the guardian, or a person standing in loco parentis to 17
said child cannot be located or contacted with reasonable diligence during the 18
time within which said minor needs to receive the treatment herein authorized, 19
or 20
(2) Where the identity of the child is unknown, or where the necessity for 21
immediate treatment is so apparent that any effort to secure approval would 22
delay the treatment so long as to endanger the life of said minor, or 23
(3) Where an effort to contact a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco 24
parentis would result in a delay that would seriously worsen the physical 25
condition of said minor, or 26
(4) Where the parents refuse to consent to a procedure, and the necessity for 27
immediate treatment is so apparent that the delay required to obtain a court 28
order would endanger the life or seriously worsen the physical condition of 29
the child. No treatment shall be administered to a child over the parent's 30
objection as herein authorized unless the physician physician, physician 31
assistant, or nurse practitioner shall first obtain the opinion of another 32
physician physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner licensed to 33
practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that such procedure is 34
necessary to prevent immediate harm to the child. 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 519-Second Edition
(5) Where the physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner has a 1
reasonable belief the treatment is for a condition, disease, or injury triggering 2
an obligation to report under G.S. 7B-301 or G.S. 90-21.20(c1). 3
(b) Provided, however, that the The refusal of a physician physician, physician assistant, 4
or nurse practitioner to use, perform or render treatment to a minor without the consent of the 5
minor's parent, guardian, or person standing in the position of loco parentis, in accordance with 6
this Article, shall not constitute grounds for a civil action or criminal proceedings against such 7
physician.the physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner. 8
"§ 90-21.2. "Treatment" defined. 9
The word "treatment" as used in G.S. 90-21.1 is hereby defined to mean any medical 10
procedure or treatment, including X rays, the administration of drugs, blood transfusions, use of 11
anesthetics, and laboratory or other diagnostic procedures employed by or ordered by a physician 12
physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner licensed to practice medicine in the State of 13
North Carolina that is used, employed, or ordered to be used or employed commensurate with 14
the exercise of reasonable care and equal to the standards of medical practice normally employed 15
in the community where said physician physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner 16
administers treatment to said minor. 17
"§ 90-21.3. Performance of surgery on minor; obtaining second opinion as to necessity. 18
The word "treatment" as defined in G.S. 90-21.2 shall also include any surgical procedure 19
which in the opinion of the attending physician is necessary under the terms and conditions set 20
out in G.S. 90-21.1; provided, however, no surgery shall be conducted upon a minor as herein 21
authorized unless the surgeon shall first obtain the opinion of another physician licensed to 22
practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that said surgery is necessary under the 23
conditions set forth in G.S. 90-21.1; provided further, that in any emergency situation that shall 24
arise in a rural community, or in a community where it is impossible for the surgeon to contact 25
any other physician for the purpose of obtaining his opinion as to the necessity for immediate 26
surgery, it shall not be necessary for the surgeon to obtain approval from another physician before 27
performing suc