What Healthcare Law Is in Georgia
The foundation of the Georgian healthcare-law system is the Law of Georgia on Medical Activity, and the law's introductory chapter — purpose, scope of regulation, legislative framework and definitions — is the constitutional layer of the entire field. The law's purpose is defined by its elements: ensuring appropriate professional education and practical training of the subject of independent medical activity; establishing proper state supervision over that professional activity; protecting the subject's rights; and establishing the medical standards and ethical norms recognised in the country — ultimately, for the purpose of highly qualified medical services for the population.
The scope of regulation is precisely drawn: the law regulates legal relations between the subject of independent medical activity, the paramedic and state authorities, natural persons and legal persons. The law's operation thus extends along three axes — the professional subject, the state and the patient — and it is precisely this triangle that defines every subsequent institution of healthcare law.
The Legislative Framework
Georgian legislation on medical activity consists of the Constitution of Georgia, international treaties and agreements, the Law of Georgia on Health Protection, the law itself and other normative acts. This hierarchy is of practical importance: where several norms address the same question, the answer is read in the sequence of this framework, and it is therefore from this general framework that every concrete healthcare-law question begins — from licensing to defence. Knowledge of this frame shows the client precisely where the subject of the inquiry begins and where the domain of general rules ends.
The System of Terms — the Language of the Field
The law's definitions are the lexicon of the field's language. Medical activity is defined as the professional activity of a person trained in medicine, possessing appropriate skills and practical experience, whose purpose is the protection, preservation and restoration of human health through the application of the medical standards and ethical norms recognised in the country. Independent medical activity is the professional activity of a person holding higher medical education and a state certificate, who answers for its results in the procedure established by legislation.
The lexicon extends further: residency, the medical specialist, telemedicine — the distant provision of medical services by a professional through information and communication technologies — continuing professional development, one-time medical services, certification and other concepts are arranged into a single system. Precision of terms is decisive in practice: most disputes begin precisely because a party uses a concept outside its statutory content.