N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41 requires that a person executing an AOM (affidavit of merit) be licensed as a physician or other health care professional in the United States and meet detailed criteria. The statute provides that if the defendant against whom the AOM is offered is a “specialist or subspecialist” in an area of medicine recognized by the ABMS, and “the care or treatment involves that specialty or subspecialty,” the affiant “shall have specialized at the time of the occurrence that is the basis for the action in the same specialty or subspecialty” as that defendant. If the defendant is also “board certified” in that specialty or subspecialty, further requirements must be met. In that event, the AOM’s affiant must not only have specialized in the same specialty or subspecialty, but must also be: (1) “a physician credentialed by a hospital to treat patients for the medical condition, or to perform the procedure, that is the basis for the claim or action,” or (2) “a specialist or subspecialist . . . who is board certified in the same specialty or subspecialty” and who has, “during the year immediately preceding the date of the occurrence that is the basis for the claim or action . . . devoted a majority of his [or her] professional time to” the “active clinical practice” of that specialty or subspecialty, the “instruction of students” in that specialty or subspecialty, or both. N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41(a)(1) and (2).
In an unpublished Per Curiam decision of the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division dated June 17, 2025, the New Jersey appellate court stated: “we conclude the trial court’s finding that plaintiff’s AOM was insufficient under the AOM Statute was correct and, thus, dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint was appropriate. Defendant specialized in internal medicine and subspecialized in pulmonology and critical care medicine. Defendant asserted that the care and treatment she provided to plaintiff were within those subspecialties. Under the ABMS, the subspecialties of pulmonology and critical care medicine are under the specialty of internal medicine. See Am. Bd. of Med. Specialties, ABMS Guide to Medical Specialties, 12 (2025 ed.). As a result, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41(a), plaintiff was required to submit an AOM from an expert who also specializes in internal medicine or subspecializes in pulmonology or critical care medicine. These were the specialties and subspecialties required to be practiced by Dr. Skudder in order for his AOM to be sufficient under the AOM Statute. Dr. Skudder was required to “be a specialist in the same field in which the [defendant] specializes.” See Nicholas, 213 N.J. at 481-82, citing N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41. We conclude the AOM of Dr. Skudder failed to meet these requirements.”
“Dr. Skudder’s AOM was insufficient because under the ABMS he specializes in general and vascular surgery with a subspecialty in surgical critical care. ABMS Guide to Medical Specialties, at 14. In contrast, under the ABMS, defendant specializes in internal medicine with subspecialties in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine. Id., at 12. The statute’s plain language states that the AOM affiant “shall have specialized . . . in the same specialty or subspecialty” as defendant. N.J.S.A. 2A:53A-41(a). Dr. Skudder neither specializes in internal medicine nor subspecializes in pulmonary disease or critical care medicine.”
“We conclude plaintiff’s contention that Dr. Skudder satisfies the requirements of the AOM statute because of his subspecialty in surgical critical care is unpersuasive. While Dr. Skudder may be qualified to provide surgical critical care, he does not meet the explicit standard set forth in N.J.S.A. 2A:53A41(a) because, unlike defendant, he does not subspecialize in critical care medicine. We conclude as did the Court in Nicholas, that physician experts of different medical specialties, even if they both are qualified to treat similar maladies, are not permitted to offer testimony unless they are equivalently credentialed under the ABMS. See Nicholas, 213 N.J. at 485.”
Source Sovelove v. Shirazi, M.D., Docket No. A-1540-23.
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