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The Florida Statutes

The 2024 Florida Statutes

Title XXXII
REGULATION OF PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
Chapter 456
HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS: GENERAL PROVISIONS
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F.S. 456.001
456.001 Definitions.As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) “Board” means any board or commission, or other statutorily created entity to the extent such entity is authorized to exercise regulatory or rulemaking functions, within the department, except that, for ss. 456.003-456.018, 456.022, 456.023, 456.025-456.033, and 456.039-456.082, “board” means only a board, or other statutorily created entity to the extent such entity is authorized to exercise regulatory or rulemaking functions, within the Division of Medical Quality Assurance.
(2) “Consumer member” means a person appointed to serve on a specific board or who has served on a specific board, who is not, and never has been, a member or practitioner of the profession, or of any closely related profession, regulated by such board.
(3) “Department” means the Department of Health.
(4) “Health care practitioner” means any person licensed under chapter 457; chapter 458; chapter 459; chapter 460; chapter 461; chapter 462; chapter 463; chapter 464; chapter 465; chapter 466; chapter 467; part I, part II, part III, part V, part X, part XIII, or part XIV of chapter 468; chapter 478; chapter 480; part I, part II, or part III of chapter 483; chapter 484; chapter 486; chapter 490; or chapter 491.
(5) “License” means any permit, registration, certificate, or license, including a provisional license, issued by the department.
(6) “Licensee” means any person or entity issued a permit, registration, certificate, or license, including a provisional license, by the department.
(7) “Profession” means any activity, occupation, profession, or vocation regulated by the department in the Division of Medical Quality Assurance.
(8) “Sex” means the classification of a person as either male or female based on the organization of the human body of such person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.
(9)(a) “Sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures” means:
1. The prescription or administration of puberty blockers for the purpose of attempting to stop or delay normal puberty in order to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex as defined in subsection (8).
2. The prescription or administration of hormones or hormone antagonists to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex as defined in subsection (8).
3. Any medical procedure, including a surgical procedure, to affirm a person’s perception of his or her sex if that perception is inconsistent with the person’s sex as defined in subsection (8).
(b) The term does not include:
1. Treatment provided by a physician who, in his or her good faith clinical judgment, performs procedures upon or provides therapies to a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sexual development, including any of the following:
a. External biological sex characteristics that are unresolvably ambiguous.
b. A disorder of sexual development in which the physician has determined through genetic or biochemical testing that the patient does not have a normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action for a male or female, as applicable.
2. Prescriptions or procedures to treat an infection, an injury, a disease, or a disorder that has been caused or exacerbated by the performance of any sex-reassignment prescription or procedure, regardless of whether such prescription or procedure was performed in accordance with state or federal law.
3. Prescriptions or procedures provided to a patient for the treatment of a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459, place the individual in imminent danger of death or impairment of a major bodily function without the prescription or procedure.
History.s. 33, ch. 97-261; s. 72, ch. 99-397; s. 36, ch. 2000-160; s. 2, ch. 2002-199; s. 116, ch. 2014-17; s. 90, ch. 2018-24; s. 57, ch. 2020-156; s. 2, ch. 2021-133; s. 4, ch. 2023-90.
Note.Former s. 455.501.