United States Ninth Circuit

Judgment in favor of the federal government in a Federal Tort Claims Act action alleging that federal healthcare providers negligently failed to monitor lithium levels on a patient, is reversed and remanded, where: 1) Alaska Statute section 09.20.185 was a state rule of "witness competency" that applied to this action under Federal Rules of Evidence 601, as well as part of Alaska's substantive law; 2) the government's evidence regarding the treating nurse practitioner's negligence should not have been admitted as it did not comply with the Alaska statute; and 2) the error was not harmless.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/23/2013
• Published 09/23/2013

Judges

• TASHIMA

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel