# Maryland — Medical malpractice certificate/affidavit of merit requirements by US state — quoted from the state statute or court rule

For Maryland, document required is certificate of a qualified expert; filing deadline is within 90 days from the date of the complaint; who must sign is A health care provider who attests in a certificate of a qualified expert or who testifies in relation to a proceeding before an arbitration panel or a court concerning compliance with or departure from standards of care may not have devoted more than 25% of the expert’s professional activities to activities that directly involve testimony in personal injury claims during the 12 months immediately before the date when the claim was first filed; consequence of non-compliance is shall be dismissed, without prejudice; statute or rule citation is Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-2A-04, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** Maryland _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Document required:** certificate of a qualified expert _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Filing deadline:** within 90 days from the date of the complaint _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Who must sign:** A health care provider who attests in a certificate of a qualified expert or who testifies in relation to a proceeding before an arbitration panel or a court concerning compliance with or departure from standards of care may not have devoted more than 25% of the expert’s professional activities to activities that directly involve testimony in personal injury claims during the 12 months immediately before the date when the claim was first filed _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Consequence of non-compliance:** shall be dismissed, without prejudice _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute or rule citation:** Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-2A-04 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> A person having a claim against a health care provider for damage due to a medical injury shall file the claim with the Director and, if the claim is against a physician, the Director shall forward copies of the claim to the State Board of Physicians.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### Document required

> a claim or action filed after July 1, 1986, shall be dismissed, without prejudice, if the claimant or plaintiff fails to file a certificate of a qualified expert with the Director attesting to departure from standards of care, and that the departure from standards of care is the proximate cause of the alleged injury, within 90 days from the date of the complaint;

### Filing deadline

> a claim or action filed after July 1, 1986, shall be dismissed, without prejudice, if the claimant or plaintiff fails to file a certificate of a qualified expert with the Director attesting to departure from standards of care, and that the departure from standards of care is the proximate cause of the alleged injury, within 90 days from the date of the complaint;

### Who must sign

> A health care provider who attests in a certificate of a qualified expert or who testifies in relation to a proceeding before an arbitration panel or a court concerning compliance with or departure from standards of care may not have devoted more than 25% of the expert’s professional activities to activities that directly involve testimony in personal injury claims during the 12 months immediately before the date when the claim was first filed.

### Consequence of non-compliance

> a claim or action filed after July 1, 1986, shall be dismissed, without prejudice, if the claimant or plaintiff fails to file a certificate of a qualified expert with the Director attesting to departure from standards of care, and that the departure from standards of care is the proximate cause of the alleged injury, within 90 days from the date of the complaint;

## Source

- https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=3-2A-04

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-09-02.
Part of [Medical malpractice certificate/affidavit of merit requirements by US state — quoted from the state statute or court rule](https://referencesource.org/medical-malpractice-certificate-of-merit-by-state/).