This law made plaintiffs submit a “Certificate of Merit” with any lawsuit that alleged medical malpractice.  The “Certificate of Merit” document had to be signed by a medical professional who possessed expertise in the defendant’s field.  When a doctor signs the Certificate, he or she is in essence saying that the feeling is that the standard of care was violated in some way.  In a medical malpractice case, it has to be shown that the standard of care was violated and that this violation was the cause of the plaintiff’s injury.

According to the court’s opinion, mandating that plaintiffs have to produce evidence before discovery, which is the time period that both sides trade documents and information, put an undue burden on the plaintiffs.  Also, the court decided that this requirement passed by the legislation interfered too much with the judicial branch and access to the courts, making it unconstitutional.

There is a lot of talk by politicians regarding tort reform.  It is crucial to understand that when they are talking about tort reform, they are basically talking about removing patients’ rights.