Overlap in practice areas between emergency room medicine and plastic surgery suffices to satisfy plaintiff's obligation under Affidavit of Merit statute.

The plaintiff presented to the emergency room with a laceration on his forehead. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant, board certified in emergency medicine and internal medicine, sutured the laceration but failed to completely clean the wound, leading to a subsequent infection. The plaintiff served an Affidavit of Merit (AOM) from a plastic surgeon with a specialty in "urgent surgical care," who opined that the defendant's care and treatment fell outside accepted customs, standards and/or practices. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss for the plaintiff's failure to serve an AOM from a board certified emergency room physician pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41(a). The trial court granted the defendant's motion, but the appellate division reversed. The appellate panel found that the defendants did not establish that the treatment at issue involved either of the defendant's specialties. The panel further noted that the defendants have not shown that the physician who executed the AOM is not qualified to opine as to the standard of care that applies in the case.

Case Law Alert - 1st Quarter 2013