Opinion
C.A. No. 09c-03-315 (MJB).
Submitted: April 16, 2009.
Decided: May 21, 2009.
Upon Defendant's Motion to Determine if Plaintiff's Affidavit of Merit Complies with 18 Delaware Code § 6853.
ORDER
This is a medical negligence claim filed by Laura Beth Goeins ("Plaintiff") against Anthony M. Caristo, DPM, F.A.C.F.A.S., ("Caristo") Advanced Foot and Ankle Center, ("Foot and Ankle") Jennifer Spector, DPM, ("Spector") and Christiana Care Center Health Services, Inc. ("Christiana") (together, "Defendants"). Plaintiff claims that she received negligent treatment from Defendants Caristo and Spector during surgery. Additionally, Plaintiff claims Defendant Christiana is liable for Defendant Spector's negligence and Defendant Foot and Ankle is liable for Defendant Caristo's negligence.
Pursuant to 18 Del. C. § 6853(a)(1), a medical negligence complaint must be accompanied by an affidavit of merit and current curriculum vitae from a qualified expert witness. The affidavit of merit must be filed under seal, but a defendant can request an in camera review of the affidavit to ensure that it complies with the specific statutory requirements.
18 Del. C. § 6853(c) provides as follows:
Qualifications of expert and contents of affidavit. The affidavit(s) of merit shall set forth the expert's opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicable standard of care was breached by the named defendant(s) and that the breach was a proximate cause of injury(ies) claimed in the complaint. An expert signing an affidavit of merit shall be licensed to practice medicine as of the date of the affidavit; and in the 3 years immediately preceding the alleged negligent act has been engaged in the treatment of patients and/or in the teaching/academic side of medicine in the same or similar field of medicine as the defendant(s), and the expert shall be Board certified in the same or similar field of medicine if the defendant(s) is Board certified. The Board Certification requirement shall not apply to an expert that began the practice of medicine prior to the existence of Board certification in the applicable specialty.
On May 11, 2009, Defendants Spector and Christiana Care filed a Motion for Review of Plaintiff's Affidavit of Merit. The Court has reviewed the affidavit and finds as follows:
1. The affidavit is signed by an expert witness.
2. The affidavit is accompanied by a current curriculum vitae.
3. The affidavit sets forth the expert's opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicable standards of care were breached by the Defendants named in this case, and that the breach was the proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries.
4. The expert witness was licensed to practice Podiatric Medicine and Surgery as of the date of the affidavit.
5. For at least three years immediately prior to the alleged negligent act, the expert witness was engaged in the treatment of patients and/or the teaching/academic side of medicine in the same or similar field of medicine as Defendant.
6. The expert witness is board-certified in Podiatric Surgery.
Therefore, having reviewed the affidavit of merit, the Court finds that Plaintiff has met the requirements set forth in 18 Del. C. § 6853.
IT IS SO ORDERED.