Alaska Healthcare Power of Attorney Requirements

The document is governed by Alaska's Health Care Decisions Act, Alaska Statutes Chapter 13.52 (short title at Section 13.52.395), which authorizes the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care at Section 13.52.010 as Part 1 of the broader Advance Health Care Directive.

The principal designates a primary health care agent, with full name and contact information, and may name one or more alternate agents who serve if the primary agent is unable, unwilling, or not reasonably available (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(b); statutory form at Section 13.52.300, Part 1, Section 1).

The statutory form grants the agent authority to make any health care decision the principal could have made while having capacity, including consenting to, refusing, or withdrawing treatment, unless the principal limits that authority in the document itself (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(b); form Part 1, Section 2).

Unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, an agent may not be an owner, operator, or employee of the health care institution where the principal is receiving care (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(c)).

Unless the directive specifies otherwise, the agent's authority becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity, made by the primary physician except in mental illness cases, and ceases upon a determination of recovered capacity (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(f)-(g)). Unlike some other states, Alaska's own statutory form lets the principal check a box to make the agent's authority effective immediately instead, even while the principal still has capacity (form Part 1, Section 3).

Revoking the agent's designation specifically requires a signed writing or personally informing the supervising health care provider (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.020(a)). Revoking any other part of the directive can be done at any time and in any manner that communicates an intent to revoke (Section 13.52.020(b)). A decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation automatically revokes a prior designation of the former spouse as agent unless stated otherwise (Section 13.52.020(e)).

The principal signs, or acknowledges the signature, before two qualified adult witnesses who personally know the principal, or alternatively before a notary public with no witnesses required (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(b)). Both witnesses, not just one, must not be a health care provider or employee at the principal's care facility or the named agent (Section 13.52.010(d)); at least one of the two must also not be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, and must not be entitled to any part of the principal's estate (Section 13.52.010(e)).

Federal HIPAA regulations govern how the agent can be authorized to access the principal's protected health information once the document is in effect.

The agent may make an anatomical gift on the principal's behalf as part of the health care decisions defined by the chapter (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.390(20)(E)), and the principal may separately elect anatomical gift terms directly on the statutory form (Section 13.52.300, Part 3). The anatomical gift provisions (Sections 13.52.170 through 13.52.290) are part of the same Health Care Decisions Act chapter.

The statutory form includes a dedicated Part 4 letting the principal state wishes about psychotropic medication, electroconvulsive treatment, and admission to a mental health facility, all within the same Advance Health Care Directive rather than a separate document. Special mental-illness rules govern revocation (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.020(c)) and a surrogate's authority to make emergency mental health decisions (Section 13.52.030(b)).

A directive or health care decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures may not be given effect if the patient is a pregnant woman who lacks capacity, the withholding or withdrawal would likely result in the patient's death, and it is probable the fetus could develop to live birth if the procedures were provided (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.055(b)). This does not apply to emergency field services.

A written advance health care directive may include the principal's nomination of a guardian, and the statutory form lets the principal nominate the named agent (in order of priority) to serve as guardian if one is ever needed, taking priority over any other guardian nomination the principal may have made, including in a separate general power of attorney (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(j); form Part 1, Section 5).

An advance health care directive made in compliance with the laws of another state is valid in Alaska if it complies with Alaska's own chapter, regardless of where or when it was executed (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(k)). Whether an Alaska directive is honored after a move to a different state depends on that other state's own law, which this Alaska statute does not and cannot control.

Facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid must inform patients of their rights under state law to make advance directives, including a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.

Alaska combines the health care power of attorney and living-will-style instructions into a single Advance Health Care Directive form (Section 13.52.300, Parts 1 and 2), rather than treating them as two separate documents that must be reconciled. Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.010(l) separately provides that an individual instruction valid on its own remains valid even if it appears in a writing that also contains a durable power of attorney for health care that fails to meet the chapter's witnessing requirements.

When an agent must decide the principal's best interest because the principal's wishes are unknown, the agent is required to consider the principal's religious beliefs and basic values as one of several listed factors (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.390(6)(G)).

The principal may make, limit, or refuse an anatomical gift directly (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.170), and an agent, guardian, or surrogate may make an anatomical gift on the principal's behalf under Section 13.52.180 as part of their health care decision-making authority.

A health care provider or institution acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health care standards is not subject to civil or criminal liability for complying with, or reasonably relying on the validity of, an advance health care directive or a person's assumed authority to make health care decisions; an agent, guardian, or surrogate acting in good faith is likewise protected (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.080).

Alaska's default surrogate-decision-maker rules (used only when no agent has been named or is reasonably available) provide that if multiple family members of the same priority class disagree, the supervising health care provider follows the majority of that class, and if evenly divided, the primary physician decides after consulting the class (Alaska Statutes Section 13.52.030(f)). Any patient, agent, guardian, surrogate, or provider may also petition the superior court for equitable relief (Section 13.52.140).

Alaska has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act at Alaska Statutes Chapter 13.63, which governs a fiduciary's access to a principal's digital accounts and records.