Nino Tatoshvili, criminal defence lawyer in Georgia
Medical & reproductive criminal law

Forgery or Alteration of Medical Records

Forgery or alteration of medical records: compare originals, audit trails, amendments, authorship, intended use and the clinical event each entry records.

English legal guideTbilisi · Georgia-wide
Short answer

Suspected alteration, concealment or fabrication of medical records can become central evidence of both the clinical event and a possible document offence; originals, audit trails and access logs should be preserved.

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Clinical and criminal analysis

Start with duty, record and medical causation

A late entry, correction or template error is not necessarily deliberate falsification; authorship, timing and purpose matter.

Clinical-legal question

Who created or altered the entry, when, through which account, and did it misrepresent a material clinical event?

Independent expertise should identify the applicable specialty standard and limitations; it should not be asked to declare criminal guilt.

The unaltered clinical record matters first

Native electronic audit logs, version history, paper originals, access credentials, signatures, backups and corresponding clinical data.

01

Clinical chronology

Reconstruct condition, decisions, interventions and response.

02

Individual duty

Distinguish practitioner, clinic, agency and executive roles.

03

Causation

Test competing medical explanations and legally assessed harm.

Criminal Code articles to check

Articles that may enter the qualification

Article 362

Making, sale or use of a forged official document

The original document, method of alteration, intended use, knowledge and the role of the person who made or used it require separate proof.

Read full Article 362 text on this page
Relevant Criminal Code wording

Read the relevant Criminal Code provisions

The panel below reproduces the available official English wording for convenient reading. Check the current Georgian text and the exact article part before relying on it, because later amendments may not yet appear in translation.

Article 362Making, sale or use of a forged document, seal, stamp or blank forms

1. Making, purchase, storage for sale or use, sale or use of forged identity cards or other official documents, –

shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for up to three years.

11. Forging data/information, and own signatures and the signatures of supporters, in relevant forms of the lists of supporters provided for by the Organic Law of Georgia – the Election Code of Georgia, own, as well as the signature of the supporter, –

shall be punished by a fine.

2. The act under paragraph 1 or paragraph 11 of this article:

a) committed repeatedly;

b) that has resulted in substantial damage, –

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three to six years.

Note:

1. This article shall not apply to a person who committed the above act before acquiring the status of a victim of human trafficking due to him/her being a victim of human trafficking.

2. For the act specified in this article a legal person shall be punished by a fine, with deprivation of the right to carry out activities, or by liquidation and a fine.

3. For committing an act provided for by this article (except for the act related to the sale of forged official documents, seals, stamps or blank forms), criminal liability shall not be applied to an alien or a stateless person who has entered Georgia directly from the territory where he/she was under a threat provided for by Articles 15(1), 19(1), 38(3), or 22(1) of the Law of Georgia on International Protection, if he/she immediately, at the first opportunity, appeared before a state authority, presented a proper explanation of his/her illegal entry into Georgia, and requested international protection under the said Law, unless his/her act contains elements of another crime.

4. If it is determined by the relevant final decision on international protection that a foreigner or a stateless person is not in need of international protection, the release from criminal liability provided for by paragraph 3 of this Note shall not apply.

The consolidated official source is listed in the source section at the end of this guide.

First controlled step

Preserve the system and logs without opening records in a way that changes metadata.

Sources & legislation

Primary sources for this guide

Before acting, compare this guide with the current Georgian text and the exact document served in the case. The official English translation may not include the latest amendment.

Official consolidated Criminal Code — current text & PDFLaw on Health CareLaw on Patient Rights
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