Alaska generally requires a medical malpractice claim for personal injury or death to be filed within two years after the cause of action accrues. The live source identifies the treatment date as the typical starting point for bringing a medical malpractice claim. [AS § 09.10.070(a)]
Alaska also recognizes the discovery rule. Under Alaska case law, the limitations period may account for situations where the injury was undiscovered and reasonably undiscoverable within two years, or where the injury was known but its cause was unknown and reasonable diligence would not have revealed it. The key question is when the plaintiff reasonably should have known the facts supporting the cause of action. [Pedersen v. Zielski, 822 P.2d 903, 906 (Alaska 1991); Russell v. Municipality of Anchorage, 743 P.2d 372, 375 (Alaska 1987)]
The Supreme Court of Alaska established that plaintiffs injured when they were minors may bring suit through the two-year period following their eighteenth birthdays, when they reach the age of majority. [Sands ex rel. Sands v. Green, 156 P.3d 1130, 1132 (Alaska 2007)]
There are no specific provisions on wrongful death and, therefore, actions must be commenced within two years of the death.
Alaska caps noneconomic damages in a medical malpractice case at $250,000. This cap applies regardless of the number of providers who were at fault. If the malpractice results in death or a severe permanent physical impairment that is more than 70% disabling, the cap increases to $400,000. The cap does not apply to injuries caused by intentional or reckless misconduct. [Alaska Stat. § 9.55.549(d)-(f) (2024)]
Alaska currently has no attorney fee caps other than the general requirement of reasonableness.
In actions against health care providers, if the parties have not agreed to submit the claim to arbitration, the trial court shall appoint a three-member expert advisory panel to review the case shortly after it is filed in court. Within 30 days after the panel is appointed, the members must submit a written report to the court and the parties. [Alaska Stat. § 9.55.536(a) (2024)]
Discovery may not be undertaken until the report of the expert advisory panel is received or 60 days after selection of the panel, whichever occurs first. If the case later goes to trial, the report can be admitted into evidence and considered the same as any other expert witness testimony. Members of the panel can also be called to testify as experts in court. [Alaska Stat. § 9.55.536(c), (e) (2024)]
Expert witnesses must be professionals who are licensed in Alaska or in another state or country, trained and experienced in the same discipline or school of practice as the defendant or in an area directly related to a matter at issue, and certified by a board recognized by the state as having acknowledged expertise and training directly related to the particular field or matter at issue. [AS § 09.20.185(a)]
A corporate negligence claim requires proof that the hospital should have known that the physician would act negligently before the negligence at issue occurred. Such proof generally consists of evidence that the physician either lacked standard credentials or previously had been the subject of a malpractice suit or disciplinary proceedings. [Mat-Su Valley Medical Center, LLC v. Bolinder (Alaska 2018)] However, this case did not directly establish a negligent credentialing cause of action or standard.
Overall, Alaska has not definitively established a negligent credentialing cause of action, but this case opened the door for further legal arguments about negligent credentialing.
