Section 3-2A-04(b) of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article requires medical malpractice plaintiffs in Maryland the requirement that they file, within a prescribed time, a certificate of a "qualified expert" attesting to the defendant's departure from the applicable standard of care and that the said departure proximately caused the plaintiff's alleged injuries. The statute states that the plaintiff's claim or action "shall be dismissed, without prejudice, if the plaintiff fails to file a certificate of a qualified expert...."
So who is a qualified expert? The term "qualified expert" is not specifically defined by the statute although the statute does have provisions that set forth the necessary qualifications that an expert must give for a Maryland medical malpractice case to proceed. The statute sets forth the requirement that the certificate may not be signed by a party, an employee or partner of a party, or an employee or stockholder of any professional corporation of which the party is a stockholder. Section 3-2A-04(b)(4) also sets forth the controversial 20% rule: an expert may not devote annually more than 20 percent of his professional activities to activities that directly involve testimony in personal injury cases.
What are professional activities? That is the subject of another blog post.
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