The criminal-law assessment of a medical error in Georgia rests on two norms of the Criminal Code — Articles 116 and 124. The outcome is decisive: if the patient died, the assessment proceeds under Article 116 — causing death by negligence; if the health suffered less serious or serious damage — under Article 124. The central feature of both norms is the same: negligence.
This page is intended for the defense of charges connected with medical practice: here you will find the exact elements of both articles, all sanctions by part, and the directions in which a lawyer analyzes cases of this category. Every figure is taken solely from the normative text of these two articles.
Article 116: causing death by negligence
The outcome of the case is the patient’s death. The article is divided into two parts:
- Part 1 — causing death by negligence: house arrest for a term from six months to two years, or imprisonment for a term from two to four years;
- Part 2 — the same act committed against two or more persons: imprisonment for a term from three to five years.
In other words, the sanction directly depends on the number of victims: with one patient, house arrest is possible; with two or more — only imprisonment from three to five years. Comparing the two parts helps the defense plan: if the charge is built on two patients and the elements fail for one of them — for example, causation is not proven — the case returns from Part 2 to Part 1 and the punishment frame substantially narrows. This is why every episode must be analyzed separately.