AN ACT to allow claims of action for wrongful death or injury against a health care provider arising after march 1, 2020, to be filed if otherwise time‑barred.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article 1B of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

§ 90‑21.19A.  Temporary civil action authorization for injury or death in certain circumstances.

A patient or personal representative of a patient may bring an action for death or injuries alleged to have resulted from medical malpractice arising out of a health care provider's performance of or failure to perform professional services in a court of competent jurisdiction if (i) the alleged death or injury arose on or after March 1, 2020, and (ii) the alleged death or injury was not the direct result of the patient contracting COVID‑19. For the purposes of this section, the term COVID‑19 means the disease caused by the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus.

SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding Article 1L of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes or any other provision of law to the contrary, effective from March 1, 2020, until one year after the date this act becomes law, G.S. 90‑21.19A, as enacted by Section 1 of this act, revives any civil action for a claim of wrongful death under Chapter 28A of the General Statutes or medical malpractice claim under Article 1B of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, or any other appropriate civil action brought under the laws of this State, otherwise time‑barred under G.S. 1‑15 or G.S. 1‑17 as it existed immediately before the enactment of this act.

SECTION 3.  G.S. 90‑21.19A, as enacted by Section 1 of this act, shall expire one year after this act becomes law.

SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to claims that arose on or after March 1, 2020, and one year after this act becomes law.