(815 ILCS 540/5) Sec. 5. Legislative intent. The General Assembly finds that fertility fraud, or the assisted reproductive treatment of a patient using the health care provider's own human reproductive material without the patient's informed written consent, has caused significant harm and had a severe negative impact on residents of this State including former patients and their children. This conduct has never constituted or complied with the medical standard of care and violates doctor-patient trust. Often discovering the fraud through DNA testing many years later, these individuals must now cope with knowing that their bodies and autonomy were violated, grapple with the sexual nature of the conduct, and negotiate identity issues and changing family relationships. Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly that any civil action authorized by this Act shall be retroactive and apply to any treatment by a health care provider occurring prior to the effective date of this Act. (Source: P.A. 103-478, eff. 1-1-24 .) |