New Jersey’s medical malpractice laws provides a 2-year statute of limitations within which injured parties must present their claims in a court of law. The statute is based on the date when the incident occurred or from the date on which the condition was discovered.
Liability Insurance
New Jersey is one of only a handful of states that do not require practicing physicians to carry an updated form of liability insurance. As a result, it is a good idea to look into the background of one’s physician whenever that possible prior to retaining their medical services.
Determining Negligence
In New Jersey, the proof of medical negligence is what determines whether a malpractice claim has any merit or not. For a lawsuit to be successful, the plaintiff will need to be able to prove that the medical professional (the defendant) in question was negligent in duty. For this to be possible, four factors must be present, which are detailed below:
- First, a duty of care must be owed to the plaintiff. In other words, the injured party is required to provide proof that there was a relationship between the medical professional in question and the victim.
- Second, a breach of duty must be shown to have occurred. The defendant did not do what they needed to do or did what they should not have done.
- Third, there must be proximate cause. The burden of proof here lies on the plaintiff to show that the defendant was the primary source of injury.
- Fourth, there should be damages awarded. The specific amounts and kinds of damages, naturally, will depend on the laws of the state and the impact on the life of the victim.