The Governing Principles of Bioethics Law
Bioethics law governs the circle of relationships that arise where modern medical technology, decisions about the beginning and end of life, genetic research, and patient autonomy intersect. Georgian legislation rests in this field on several firm foundations: the primacy of the patient's informed will, the confidentiality of private life, the prohibition of discrimination based on genetic heritage, and respect for human dignity in medical teaching and research. On this page we explain these rules on the basis of the specific provisions through which this sphere is regulated in Georgia, and we show how patients and their families can protect their rights.
The Advance Written Will and Its Safeguards
A citizen of Georgia has the right to express in advance, in writing, his or her will — consent or refusal — for the situation in which the person is found unconscious or loses the capacity to make an informed decision, and requires resuscitation, life sustaining treatment or palliative treatment, or the provision of palliative care or hospice care. This right applies where such a condition is caused by the terminal stage of an incurable disease, or by a disease that will inevitably result in a severe form of disability. The advance will is therefore not an abstract declaration but a legal instrument that binds the future delivery of medical services to the choice the person makes while still capable of deciding.
Under the same norm, a citizen has the right to designate in advance a person who will make decisions about the medical care needed in those circumstances. This means that a person can determine today who, and on what principles, will safeguard his or her interests when the capacity to decide has been lost. Such an advance will serves as a legal reference point for medical service providers and plays a decisive role in reducing disputes within families and before courts.
Minors and Patients Lacking Decision Making Capacity
The law separately protects minors and patients who lack the capacity to make informed decisions. Where a decision of such a patient's relative or legal representative contradicts the patient's health interests, the medical service provider has the right to appeal that decision to court. This guarantee ensures that the interest of a minor or vulnerable patient is not harmed even when the decision is taken by a close relative.
Emergency situations are also precisely regulated. If a minor or a patient lacking capacity requires emergency medical care without which his or her death or significant deterioration of health is inevitable, but the relative or legal representative cannot be found, the medical service provider takes the decision with regard to the patient's health interests. The same rule applies where emergency care is needed without which death is inevitable and the relative or legal representative objects to that care: in this case too, the provider decides on the basis of the patient's health interests.