What Dental Malpractice Means Legally
The Georgian trajectory of dental malpractice is professional and disciplinary, defined by the Law on Medical Activity. Its foundation is the concept of professional liability: a subject of independent medical activity answers for violations of medical standards and ethical norms connected with the examination, care and treatment of a patient. A dentist is a subject of this law, since dental specialties belong to the list of medical specialties — the same liability regime therefore extends to the dentist.
The application of this regime begins with what the patient sees: carelessly performed treatment, an unjustified procedure or a breach of the standard. Legally, everything begins with a single question: was a medical standard or an ethical norm violated — and it is to precisely this question that the Council, the organ examining questions of professional liability, gives its answer.
The Types of Professional Liability
The law establishes the entire ladder of professional liability: a written warning; suspension of the state certificate; cancellation of the state certificate; restriction on prescribing narcotic, psychotropic and alcohol-containing medicines; and other measures provided by legislation. Decisions on these measures are taken by the Council, while the subject has the right to challenge any of them in court — the disciplinary career does not end at the Council's walls, and final justice reaches the court.
The step from warning to suspension is also precise: where a subject has received a written warning at least three times within one calendar year, the Council is competent to consider suspending the certificate. No warning is given after five years from the violation, nor for participation in a strike or similar action — circumstances that limit the Council's competence in time and by subject matter.
The Complaint Route — from Patient to Council
The grounds for a warning are enumerated by law: an application or complaint of the patient, the patient's relative or legal representative; an application of the employer; an application of the head of the medical institution — confirmed by more than two colleagues working in the same institution; a complaint of colleagues — confirmed by the head; and information supplied by the employer or the institution. Where a criminal case has been initiated, a complaint concerning the same act is not examined — the disciplinary and the criminal routes do not mix.
The complaint is submitted to the Council in writing and must contain the complainant's name, surname, date of birth and address; the subject's name, surname, specialty and workplace address; the substance of the complaint and the demand; and other circumstances. It must be signed; a representative's authority is certified by a notary or, in cases provided by legislation, by the head of the institution. The Council must notify the subject of the complaint within one week of its submission, disclose its content on request, decide within two months, and notify both the subject and the complainant within ten days of the decision. The Council's decision may be appealed in court.