Laws vary from state to state, but the elements of a health care liability claim for medical malpractice or medical negligence are generally:

• a physician or health care provider is a defendant;

• the claim or claims at issue concern treatment, lack of treatment, or a departure from accepted standards of medical care or health care, or safety, professional, or administrative services directly related to health care;

• the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care;

• the defendant breached its duty of care by not meeting the required standard of care; and

• the defendant’s act or omission proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury (was the primary cause of the injury).

In New Jersey, medical malpractice claims are governed by both statutory law and case law. To establish a medical malpractice claim in New Jersey, the plaintiff must demonstrate that a health care provider, such as a physician, owed a duty of care to the patient, breached that duty by deviating from the accepted standards of medical practice, and that this breach was the proximate cause of the patient's injury. New Jersey law requires that the plaintiff provide an affidavit of merit from an appropriately licensed expert within 60 days of the defendant's response to the complaint, attesting that there is a reasonable probability that the care, skill, or knowledge exercised or exhibited in the treatment, practice, or work that is the subject of the complaint fell outside acceptable professional or occupational standards or treatment practices. The statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice claim in New Jersey is generally two years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, but there are exceptions that can extend this period, such as the discovery rule, which allows the time limit to start from the date the injury was discovered or should have reasonably been discovered.