If you've been injured as a result of a health care provider's mistake in Alaska, you could be thinking about filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. If so, it's a good idea to get familiar with the different state laws that could affect your case.

Unlike a lot of states, Alaska hasn't passed many tort reform-style laws that put procedural hurdles in the path of a potential medical malpractice plaintiff (the injured patient who is filing the lawsuit). But there are legally binding requirements for any medical professional who will serve as an expert witness on behalf of the plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit, and the plaintiff must prove specific elements in order to meet his or her "burden of proof" when it comes to establishing a health care provider's negligence in Alaska. In this article, we'll summarize these important laws.

"Expert Witness Qualification" in Alaska Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

For the vast majority of medical malpractice lawsuits in Alaska, proving that the health care provider did indeed commit negligence will require the testimony of a qualified expert witness. And the question of who can qualify as an expert witness is dictated by Alaska statute.

Specifically Alaska Statutes section 09.20.185 says that in any civil lawsuit that is based on professional negligence -- which includes medical malpractice lawsuits -- in order to testify as an expert witness "on the issue of the appropriate standard of care," a witness must meet certain qualifications. In the context of a medical malpractice lawsuit, the witness must be:

• a health care professional who is licensed to practice medicine in Alaska (or in another state or country)
• trained and experienced in the same practice of medicine as the defendant health care provider, or in an area directly related to the health condition or procedure that is at issue in the malpractice suit, and
• certified by a relevant state board "as having acknowledged expertise and training directly related to" the particular field of medicine related to the plaintiff's condition or procedure.

A Plaintiff's Burden of Proof in Alaska

Alaska Statutes section 09.55.540 spells out the different elements of a medical malpractice lawsuit in Alaska, when it comes to establishing liability. This law says that the plaintiff has the burden of proving (convincing the jury, in other words) of the defendant health care provider's medical negligence "by a preponderance of the evidence."

Specifically, a medical malpractice must show (usually through the testimony of one or more expert witnesses):

• the appropriate "standard of care" under the circumstances that gave rise to the lawsuit. That means the "degree of knowledge or skill possessed" or "the degree of care ordinarily exercised under the circumstances...by health care providers in the field or specialty in which the defendant is practicing." In other words, the level of skill and care that a similarly-trained and situated health care provider would have provided, under the same circumstances (that means other doctors, specialists, surgeons, etc. who practice the same kind of medicine or specialty as the defendant)
• that the defendant health care provider "either lacked this degree of knowledge or skill," or that he or she "failed to exercise this degree of care," and
• that "as a proximate result of" the defendant health care provider's "lack of knowledge or skill" or "the failure to exercise this degree of care," the medical malpractice plaintiff suffered "injuries that would not otherwise have been incurred."

Learn more about Proving Medical Malpractice.

If you've got questions about filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Alaska, an experienced attorney will have the answers. Learn more about Choosing the Right Medical Malpractice Lawyer.