Maryland's Medical Malpractice Act was enacted "for purposes of weeding out non-meritorious claims and to reduce the costs of litigation. Walzer v. Osborne, 395 Md. 563, 582 (2006). Accordingly, Maryland requires a certificate of merit as a gatekeeper to keep out medical malpractice lawsuit that do not have merit.
The goal of the certificate requirement to weed out nonmeritorious claims at an early stage. The problem is that defendant's medical malpractice lawyers are using this opportunity to try to weed out good malpractice lawsuits on technicalities instead of the merits.
This is a example certificate for a medical malpractice lawsuit in Maryland.