(LegalLaw247.com, May 03, 2012 ) Charlotte, NC -- On April 30, 2012, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order reversing a circuit court order in the case of Grier v. Amisub doing business as Piedmont Medical Center. The lawyers for Piedmont Medical Center had argued that a medical malpractice Plaintiff in South Carolina had to have certain information in a certificate of merit in order to proceed in a medical malpractice case.
In South Carolina, a certificate of merit is an affidavit required to be filed with any case involving a medical professional (doctors, nursing homes, hospitals). The South Carolina legislature has indicated that the type of information required in this affidavit includes a statement about breaches of the standard of care committed by the medical professional. The filing of a certificate of merit insures that a person filing a medical malpractice case has performed due diligence and is filing a meritorious case.
The lawyers for Piedmont Medical Center attempted to argue that the legislature implicitly adopted a requirement that the medical malpractice affidavit must contain an opinion by the person drafting the affidavit that the breaches of the standard of care caused the death or injury of a Plaintiff. The lawyers for McGowan, Hood and Felder disagreed since that type of specific information was not contained in the statute for the requirements of the medical malpractice affidavit. The ruling from the South Carolina Supreme Court appears to verify the position of McGowan, Hood and Felder that the written requirements of the legislature are what is required in a medical malpractice affidavit.
McGowan Hood and Felder is a law firm which represents people injured in serious or fatal accidents (wrongful death), including those caused by medical professionals, tractor trailer drivers or nursing home employees.
McGowan, Hood and Felder, LLC
Randall Hood
803-327-7800
rhood@mcgowanhood.com
Source: EmailWire.Com
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