The federal District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia has ruled that the state’s certificate of merit requirement for medical malpractice cases does not apply to EMTALA cases. The Court ruled that the state rule directly conflicts with EMTALA by setting up hurdles to the filing of the EMTALA action that are inconsistent with the federal statute and are therefore preempted.
Courts in other jurisdictions have split on whether their specific state statutes are preempted, with a majority at this point siding with the WV court.
Cox v. Cabell Huntington Hosp. No. 3:11-0843