The Legal Regulation of Nursing Homes
A person placed in a nursing home is, first of all, a patient, and fully enjoys the rights established by the Law on Patient Rights. This simple proposition is the core of the entire legal regulation: the type of institution does not limit the rights. It should also be noted that the framework of social protection and licensing of shelters is regulated by separate legislation — what follows are the rights the resident holds under the patient-rights law itself.
Five norms form the protective frame: the right to service conforming to standards, the right to dignity, the confidentiality of information, the permissible cases of its disclosure, and the boundary of those attending the service.
Service Conforming to Standards and Dignity
Under the law, every citizen of Georgia has the right to receive, from any provider of medical services, service conforming to the professional and service standards recognized and established in the country. In the context of a nursing home this means that the fact of institutional care cannot justify any reduction of quality: the standard is the same as with any other provider. The practical consequence works in both directions: the resident keeps the power to decide — how to give consent, which customs to preserve, whom to inform — while the institution must plan its service around the resident's habits and train its staff accordingly, so that no internal rule contradicts the norm of dignity. The right to respect embraces the patient’s traditions, confession and personal values, and the nursing home’s internal regulations must be read through that guarantee.
The second anchor is the dignity block: the patient has the right to demand from the provider respect for the patient's dignity, traditions, religion and personal values. In a nursing home, where a person lives in constant contact with the environment and the staff, this norm is an instrument of everyday management — from the daily routine to respect for religious and cultural customs.