Start with duty, record and medical causation
Death or serious injury establishes a consequence, not the responsible act, mental element or causal pathway.
What clinical event caused the outcome, which alternative disease or intervention contributed and who controlled the decision?
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
Autopsy, toxicology, imaging, laboratory results, monitoring data, medication chart, device logs and expert reviews.
Clinical chronology
Reconstruct condition, decisions, interventions and response.
Individual duty
Distinguish practitioner, clinic, agency and executive roles.
Causation
Test competing medical explanations and legally assessed harm.
Articles that may enter the qualification
These provisions are orientation points, not a conclusion. An investigation may start under one article and later be narrowed, expanded or reclassified as facts, expert results, article parts, aggravating circumstances and procedural decisions develop.
Killing by negligence
May be relevant where a death is alleged to result from negligence rather than an intentional act; duty, fault and causation require independent proof.
Read full Article 116 text on this pageSerious or less serious harm to health by negligence
An adverse outcome or safety breach does not itself prove criminal negligence; the standard of care, individual duty, fault, medical classification and causation must be established.
Read full Article 124 text on this pageLeaving a sick person in danger
May apply to unjustified failure by a medical worker to provide urgent aid where a patient's life is endangered; duty, urgency, valid reason and consequence require proof.
Read full Article 130 text on this pageIllegal medical or pharmaceutical practice
Potentially relevant where unauthorised practice allegedly causes health damage or death; licensing, individual conduct and causation must be established.
Read full Article 246 text on this pageRead the relevant provisions before the external source
The operative English text below is reproduced from the official consolidated Criminal Code of Georgia, publication 296, accessed 9 August 2026. Formatting has been normalised for on-screen reading; the current Georgian-language consolidated text controls if wording or timing differs.
Article 116Killing by negligence+
1. Killing by negligence, –
shall be punished by house arrest for a term of six months to two years or imprisonment for a term of two to four years.
2. The same act committed against two or more persons, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three to five years.
Open Article 116 in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎Article 124Infliction of serious or less serious harm to health by negligence+
Infliction of serious or less serious harm to health by negligence, –
shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for a term of up to two years.
Open Article 124 in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎Article 130Leaving a sick person in danger+
1. Failure of a medical worker to provide urgent medical aid, without a valid reason, to a sick person whose life is endangered, –
shall be punished by a fine or corrective labour for a term of up to 15 months, with or without the deprivation of the right to hold an office or to carry out activities for a term of up to three years, or by house arrest for a term of six months to one year.
2. The same act which has resulted in a serious damage to health or death of a sick person, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three to five years, with the deprivation of the right to hold an office or to carry out activities for up to three years, or by house arrest for a term of one to two years.
Open Article 130 in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎Article 246Illegal medical or pharmaceutical practice+
1. Illegal medical or pharmaceutical practice that results in health damage, –
shall be punished by a fine or imprisonment for up to three years.
2. The same act that has resulted in loss of human’s life, –
shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of three to seven years, with or without deprivation of the right to hold an office or to carry out activities for up to three years.
Open Article 246 in the official consolidated Criminal Code↗︎How counsel turns the issue into a case plan
For patient death or serious injury, counsel can identify the operative procedure and decision-maker, test the prosecution theory against each legal element, obtain lawful defence material, frame expert or disclosure requests, preserve objections and prepare the next motion, hearing or cross-border step. Advice must be based on the actual record rather than the page title alone.
Preserve samples and device data and compare the clinical timeline with the legally assessed cause of harm.
Questions clients ask about patient death or serious injury
Does Article 116 — Killing by negligence — automatically apply to Patient Death or Serious Injury?+
For Patient Death or Serious Injury, Article 116, Article 124, Article 130, Article 246 may provide a starting point, but a page title is not a legal qualification. Investigators and prosecutors must match proved facts to every element, part and aggravating circumstance. The qualification may be narrowed, expanded or changed after expert results, new evidence, a defence motion, prosecutorial review or a court decision. May be relevant where a death is alleged to result from negligence rather than an intentional act; duty, fault and causation require independent proof.
Which factual boundary is decisive in a Patient Death or Serious Injury case?+
In a Patient Death or Serious Injury case, the evidence must distinguish a criminal act from an adverse outcome, clinical judgment, regulatory breach or contractual dispute. That boundary is tested through the person's individual conduct, knowledge or intent, the legally classified consequence and every circumstance relied upon to move the allegation into a different article or aggravated part.
What evidence can prove—or undermine—the allegation of Patient Death or Serious Injury?+
The focused record for Patient Death or Serious Injury is not the same as for every offence. Priority material includes the complete unaltered clinical record, consent, audit trails, samples, protocols, payments and independent expertise. The defence should test provenance, completeness, authorship, lawful collection, chain of custody and whether each item proves the disputed element rather than merely repeating the accusation.
Can the article or charge for Patient Death or Serious Injury change after the investigation starts?+
Yes. For Patient Death or Serious Injury, Article 116, Article 124, Article 130, Article 246 may be a starting map, but expert results, quantity or value, injury classification, individual role, attempt or participation, a defence application, prosecutorial review or a court decision may support a different article, part or legal outcome.
What should be preserved immediately in a Patient Death or Serious Injury matter?+
In a Patient Death or Serious Injury matter, preserve the original chronology, procedural records and the topic-specific material before routine loss or alteration. Early advice is important because records, samples and device logs need preservation before positions or systems change; preservation must be lawful and must not involve hiding, changing or coordinating evidence.
Primary sources for this guide
Legislation can change and official English translations may lag the Georgian text. Check the current consolidated version and obtain advice before relying on a deadline, offence classification or remedy.
Official consolidated Criminal Code — current text & PDF↗︎Law on Health Care↗︎Law on Patient Rights↗︎