In 2006, the Washington State Legislature passed two laws restricting the rights of persons injured by health care provider malpractice. The first provision required a plaintiff to send a written "90 day notice of intent to sue" to every health care provider he or she intended to sue. A medical malpractice case could not be filed until the 90 days lapsed. Besides the extra expense and time associated with this requirement, if a person sent the 90 day notice within 90 days of the running of the statute of limitations, he or she would practically have to sleep on the court house steps to file the complaint after the required 90 days passed. The second provision required that a certificate of merit be included with any complaint for health care provider malpractice. For the certificate of merit to be valid, the health care provider signing it had to practice within the same specialty as the health care provider being sued. Several months ago, the Washington Supreme Court held that the certificate or merit requirement was unconstitutional. On July 1, 2010, the Supreme Court determined that the 90 days notice requirement is also unconstitutional. Waples v. Yi, Nos 82973-0 & 82124-9. http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.disp&filename=821429MAJ
