During the Maryland General Assembly 2026 Session, Senate Bill 950 (“Conversion Therapy – Prohibitions and Causes of Action”) was introduced as an emergency bill that (1) establishes a health care malpractice cause of action for the provision of conversion therapy; (2) establishes criminal liability for providing conversion therapy; (3) establishes another civil cause of action that a recipient of conversion therapy in violation of the new criminal prohibition may pursue against the violator; (4) requires a professional liability insurer to impose a surcharge on the premiums of a licensed health care provider who provides conversion therapy; and (5) establishes the Conversion Therapy Surcharge Fund, to be administered by the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA). The bill contains a severability provision.
Under current law, “medical injury” means injury arising or resulting from the rendering or failure to render health care. The bill specifies that “medical injury” includes psychological injury arising or resulting from “conversion therapy” provided in the State. The bill defines “conversion therapy” as a practice or treatment by a mental health or child care practitioner that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity; it includes any effort to change the behavioral expression of an individual’s sexual orientation, change gender expression, or eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. The definition does not include specified practices, including sexual-orientation neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices and that do not seek to change sexual orientation or gender identity.
Under current law, before a health care malpractice lawsuit can be filed, a plaintiff in a health care malpractice claim must file a certificate of a qualified expert attesting to the defendant’s departure from the standards of care with the Maryland Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office. A health care provider who attests in a certificate of a qualified expert or testifies before a panel or court regarding the defendant’s adherence to the standard of care must meet specified professional qualifications, including, subject to specified exceptions, that if the defendant is board certified in a specialty, the expert must be board certified in the same or a related specialty. The bill adds an exception to this requirement that, in an action for damages relating to conversion therapy, in addition to any other qualifications, a health care provider who attests in a certificate of a qualified expert or testifies in relation to a proceeding before a panel or court concerning a defendant’s compliance with or departure from standards of care may be any licensed mental health provider or researcher with expertise in the psychological effects of conversion therapy.
The bill authorizes an individual to file a health care malpractice action for damages for injury caused by the provision of conversion therapy to the individual against:
the licensed health care provider who provided the conversion therapy;
a person that employed, supervised, or otherwise exercised authority over that licensed health care provider who provided the conversion therapy if the person knew or had reason to know that the provider provided conversion therapy and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the provision of the therapy; or
a person that negligently hired, supervised, or retained the licensed health care provider who provided the conversion therapy.
The plaintiff has the burden of proof to demonstrate – through expert testimony, scientific literature, and other evidence – that conversion therapy is capable of causing the medical injury suffered by the plaintiff. The defendant has the burden of proof to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff’s medical injury is solely a result of other factors unrelated to the conversion therapy.
A plaintiff in this action may seek economic damages, noneconomic damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and court costs. Further, there is no cap on the amount of noneconomic damages that may be awarded to a single claimant in an action against a single defendant. There is no statute of limitations on this civil cause of action if the conversion therapy was provided when the plaintiff was a minor. If the therapy was provided when the plaintiff was an adult, the action must be filed within 20 years after the plaintiff’s last conversion therapy session. The bill contains provisions pertaining to calculation of the discovery of the medical injury for purposes of the statute of limitations.
The bill prohibits a person (including a nonprofit entity) from providing conversion therapy for compensation or making false, misleading, or deceptive statements relating to the provision of conversion therapy, as specified. Violators are guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for up to five years and/or a $50,000 maximum fine. This provision does not apply to a “mental health or child care practitioner,” which is defined under the bill as a practitioner licensed or certified under specified provisions of the Health Occupations Article or any other practitioner licensed or certified under the Health Occupations Article who is authorized to provide counseling by the practitioner’s license or certifying board.
The bill authorizes an individual who received conversion therapy in violation of this criminal prohibition to bring a civil action for damages against the violator; this civil cause of action is similar to the health care malpractice civil action discussed above.
Under current law, § 19-117 of the Insurance Article prohibits a professional liability insurer that provides an insurance policy to a licensed health care provider from taking adverse action against a health care practitioner because the health care practitioner provides legally protected health care or makes a referral for legally protected health care. The bill specifies that “legally protected health care” does not include conversion therapy.
Under the bill, these professional liability insurers must impose a 35% surcharge on premiums to a practitioner that practices conversion therapy in the State. Surcharge revenues must be deposited into the Conversion Therapy Surcharge Fund, established under the bill and to be administered by MIA.
The purpose of the fund is to reimburse a plaintiff that successfully recovers damages in a health care malpractice claim against a conversion therapy provider. Money from the fund may only be expended for this purpose and may be made only in accordance with the State budget.
Senate Bill 950 did not make it out of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings and Finance Committee.
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