The Georgian catalogue of patient rights is codified in a single law — the Georgian Law on Patient Rights, whose purpose is the protection of citizens' rights in the sphere of health care, together with the inviolability of their honour and dignity (Article 1). This page gathers the five pillars of that catalogue: the prohibition of discrimination, informed consent, the right to information, confidentiality and court protection — each carried by its own article of the law.
Non-Discrimination and Information
Article 6 prohibits discrimination against a patient on grounds of race, colour of skin, language, sex, genetic inheritance, belief and religion, political or other views, national, ethnic and social origin, property and social status, place of residence, disease, sexual orientation or personal negative attitude; the conditions for limiting a patient's rights in connection with a particular disease are determined by Georgian legislation. The information pillar is Article 16: every citizen of Georgia has the right to receive complete, objective, timely and understandable information about the factors that support the preservation of his or her health or affect it adversely; the state, in turn, must provide this information through the mass media or individually, upon request, in the manner established by Georgian legislation. These two norms define the environment in which every medical service is delivered: equal access and understandable information are not courtesies but statutory entitlements. Every citizen likewise has the right to receive full, objective, timely and understandable information about the factors that promote the preservation of health or adversely affect it.
Informed Consent — The Precondition of Care
Article 22 sets the rule: an essential condition of the delivery of medical services is the informed consent of the patient — or, where the patient is a minor or unable to take a conscious decision, of a relative or legal representative — and this consent precedes the delivery of the service. Written consent is mandatory for the gravest interventions: any surgical operation (except minor surgical manipulations), abortion, surgical contraception — sterilization, catheterization of major blood vessels, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, in vitro fertilization, transplantation of a human organ and the use of human tissue or cells, genetic testing, gene therapy, radiation therapy, chemotherapy of malignant tumours, transfusion of blood or its components, and any other case where the provider considers written consent necessary. For a minor or a patient lacking the capacity to take a conscious decision, written consent is required without exception. The written-consent list is therefore the practical checklist of patient autonomy: each item marks a point where medicine may not proceed without the patient's documented will.