The Appellate Division, citing a standard federal courts have applied to acts of omission, has ruled that the common knowledge exception to the affidavit of merit statute applies in a case where nurses allegedly failed to reinsert a nasogastric tube after the patient pulled it out.

The court in Cowley v. Virtua Health System, a published decision issued Sept. 6, reinstated the plaintiff’s medical malpractice suit that was dismissed for failure to file a timely affidavit of merit.