Appellate Division reinforces the importance of observing the same specialty requirement when serving an affidavit of merit.
The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Dr. Revoredo for the death of Ms. Robles-Perez, alleging Dr. Revoredo was negligent in Ms. Robles-Perez’s care and treatment, resulting in a fatal overdose from opioid medication.
In response to the lawsuit, Dr. Revoredo advised that he was board certified in family medicine and specialized in that area of practice, but the affidavit of merit the plaintiff served was authored by a doctor board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. Revoredo argued that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the same specialty requirement of the Patients First Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41, and the lawsuit should therefore be dismissed.
On appeal, the Appellate Division found the affidavit of merit the plaintiff submitted did fail to meet the requirements of the Patients First Act. The Patients First Act requires a plaintiff to utilize an expert with the same medical specialties as the defendant — here, family medicine — because any other finding would essentially negate the requirements set forth in the Act.
The implications of this case are twofold. First, the Appellate Division reinforced the same specialty requirement of the Patients First Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41. Second, this decision clarifies that, when a defendant physician is a specialist and the basis of the medical malpractice action “involves” the physician’s specialty, the challenging expert must practice in the same specialty. The fact that there are specialists in several areas of medicine who have overlap in what they do does not excuse the same specialty requirement.
Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter, October 2020 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2020 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.