Opinion ID: 2582842
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether exhaustion of remedies is required in this case based on the factors set out in Eufemio

Text: The superior court concluded that exhaustion was required in this case based on our decision in Broeckel v. State, Department of Corrections. [24] There we held that the doctrine of exhaustion of remedies generally applies to prisoner grievance cases. [25] However, we have also held that a trial court should use its discretion in a particular case to determine whether exhaustion is required, balancing the interest of the institution in applying its special competence, correcting its errors, and discouraging deliberate flouting of its processes against the complainant's interest in the availability of adequate redress. [26] The decision whether exhaustion of remedies should apply to a given situation should be based on the particular case before the court. [27] Where the administrative process offers a remedy, even an incomplete one, the policy interests behind exhaustion will usually support requiring exhaustion to allow the agency to correct its own errors so as to moot judicial controversies, develop an actual record, and `discourage the deliberate flouting of its processes.' [28] On the other hand, where there is no remedy at all, and no available means for the error to be corrected in the available administrative process, courts usually should not require exhaustion. [29] These situations are rare, and in most exhaustion cases that we have analyzed, it has been clear that there was some remedy to exhaust. Thus we have held that exhaustion was required where a prison ordered a prisoner to surrender property that could have been restored to him or for which the Department of Corrections may have been able to reimburse him, [30] and where a building owner who contested the number of permits he was issued could have obtained the correct number of permits through the procedures of a zoning appeal board. [31] Likewise, we have required exhaustion in employment disputes in which terminations can be overturned, privileges restored, or suspensions ended. [32] In Eufemio, a physician argued that he should not have been required to exhaust because he sought monetary damages rather than the available remedies in the hospital grievance process, but we held this did not outweigh the strong interests of the hospital in correcting its own errors and to identify unfair or arbitrary processes, such as a biased tribunal, and correct the deficiency to avoid litigation. [33] If an institution has any means of correcting errors, exhaustion should typically be required. It is therefore necessary to determine whether Hymes's claims were of the type that could have been addressed by the prison grievance process. Many problems, including some that could be raised as malpractice claims, may be corrected, and the damage mitigated, if the claim is brought to the attention of prison authorities in a timely manner. In those cases, the prison's interest in requiring exhaustion should carry significant weight. One example of such a claim is Hymes's complaint that his medications were provided inconsistently. It is clear from this complaint that Hymes was aware of the risks and problems associated with such a failure, and aware that immediate action could remedy the problem or reduce potential damage going forward. The classic reasons for requiring exhaustion clearly apply to this situation: The prison has an interest in quickly having the situation brought to its attention and having the chance to correct an error in its systems and to mitigate damages. The department should be given the immediate opportunity to evaluate allegedly substandard care and correct its own errors. This gives the department the opportunity to ensure that no harm or deterioration occurs that could have been quickly and efficiently reversed by the grievance process and that it is given the chance to apply its institutional competency in prison administration to remedy defective practices. On the other hand, certain medical malpractice claims cannot possibly be remedied by any other means than compensatory damages. In a situation in which the medical treatment or error is completely in the past, and the damage to the prisoner's body is irreversibly done, the prison has no means of correcting its own errors. The issue in prisoner malpractice claims in which the harm is completed is not that any remedies are potentially inadequate to fully compensate the plaintiff, as was possible in Eufemio, but that the Department of Corrections process offers no remedy at all. [34] Such cases are in a different category than those in which exhaustion is excused for futility or inadequacy; in the futility/inadequacy cases a remedy exists, but the court finds it either extremely unlikely to be provided, or so inadequate that it would not be in the interest of fairness to require it. If a court finds no effective remedy is available, it will generally be an abuse of discretion to require exhaustion of remedies. We note that one of Hymes's claims may be of the type for which exhaustion is generally not required. The affidavit from Dr. Neuwelt indicates that prescribing Hymes a medication called Feldene may have been an error which caused Hymes long-term damage in the form of increase of blood pressure and renal impairment. The affidavit from Dr. Houk states that it was error to replace Methotrexate with Feldene because Feldene is not appropriate to treat the specific problem Hymes had and that the provider who prescribed Feldene should have monitored renal, liver, and other functions. By the time the elements of this claim were discovered, Hymes was no longer under the care of the Fairbanks Correctional Center and the health care grievance procedure could not correct or lessen Hymes's problem. [35] The initial step in the Eufemio analysis is to determine for which claims exhaustion is required. On remand, after allowing the parties sufficient opportunity to address this question under the guidelines articulated above, the court should determine whether exhaustion is required for any of the claims here. For any claim for which the court finds that exhaustion was required, it should then consider whether, under the third part of the Eufemio test, exhaustion should be excused.