What Medical Malpractice Means Legally
The civil-law side of medical malpractice is defined by the Georgian Civil Code, and it is precisely this Code that carries a patient’s claim for compensation of damage. The foundation is the general concept of a delict: a person who, by an unlawful, intentional or negligent act, causes damage to another person is obliged to compensate that damage. In the medical context this means that damage connected with treatment is compensable where it was caused by an unlawful and culpable act.
The decisive norm exists specifically for medical institutions: damage caused to a person’s health during treatment in a medical institution — including the result of a surgical operation or an erroneous diagnosis — is compensated on general grounds. The tortfeasor is released from liability only if it proves that it bears no fault in the occurrence of the damage. This burden of disproving fault rests on the party that caused the damage — a circumstance that significantly strengthens the patient’s position.
Who Answers — the Doctor or the Institution
The rule on damage caused to third parties resolves this question with disarming simplicity: a person is obliged to compensate the damage that a third party suffered through the unlawful act of the person’s worker in the performance of the worker’s labor (service) duty. In general, therefore, for damage caused by a doctor employed at a clinic, the institution where the doctor performed the professional duty answers. At the same time no liability arises where the worker acted without fault — so the inquiry follows the trail of fault, not the patient’s mere dissatisfaction. A two-step check is thus created: first the worker’s fault is established, and then the institution’s right to release itself by disproving fault.
Where several persons participate in causing the damage, they answer as solidary debtors — the injured party may demand compensation from each of them or from all together. Solidary liability extends not only to the person who directly caused the damage but also to the one who instigated or aided it, and to the one who knowingly benefited from damage caused to another. In practice this means that damage jointly produced by several medical interventions puts the whole chain on the hook.
The Deadline — When the Claim May Be Brought
The limitation period for the right to demand compensation of damage caused by a delict is three years from the moment the injured party learned of the damage or of the person obliged to compensate it. In medical cases that moment is often disputed — damage does not always manifest immediately — which is precisely why dating and documenting the discovery of the harm is the first step in preparing the claim.
Preparation of the claim proceeds along three documentary trails: the medical records, which reflect the fact and course of the treatment; confirmation of the occurrence of the damage, through subsequent examinations and conclusions; and the argumentation of causation, which shows the link between the unlawful act and the result. Where solidary liability is applied, these trails are built separately for each participant — and it is precisely here that it emerges who participated in which role.
What Does Not Apply in Georgia
Foreign case law on medical error is not directly applicable in Georgia: the Georgian court relies on the delict norms of the Civil Code — unlawfulness, fault, damage and causation. The claim must be built on exactly these four elements, not on foreign standards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about medical malpractice.
Against whom may I bring the claim?
Generally against the medical institution where the treatment took place: for damage caused by a worker in the performance of the professional duty, the employing person answers. With several participants, the liability is solidary.
How does the institution escape liability?
Only by disproving fault: damage caused to health during treatment in a medical institution is compensated on general grounds, and the party is released only where it proves it bore no fault in the occurrence of the damage.
How much time do I have for the claim?
The limitation period for a delict claim is three years from the moment you learned of the damage or of the person obliged to compensate it.
What does damage to health include?
Damage caused to a person’s health during treatment in a medical institution — including the result of a surgical operation or an erroneous diagnosis — the law treats as compensable on general grounds.
What does compensation on general grounds mean?
Compensation under the general rules of the delict: damage caused by an unlawful, intentional or negligent act is compensable where fault and causation are established.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The advocates of Legal.ge build medical-damage cases along all four elements of the delict: we establish the unlawfulness and the fault, document the damage through the medical records, fix the causation and compute the compensation; where necessary we represent you in court before the limitation period expires. Contact us — in medical-damage cases time and documentation are decisive.