At its I reading, under an expedited procedure, the Parliament of Georgia considered and supported, by 78 votes, amendments to the Law of Georgia on Mental Health, together with the related draft laws.

The amendments were presented at the plenary session by Irakli Shatakishvili, First Deputy Chair of the Legal Issues Committee.

Under the draft law, the procedures for administering compulsory psychiatric treatment, assessing the grounds for its continuation, and discharging patients from inpatient psychiatric facilities are being revised.

Specifically, once compulsory psychiatric treatment has been prescribed, a special commission of the psychiatric facility will review the case once a month to determine whether the grounds on which the treatment was prescribed still exist. Decisions of the commission, in cases of both compulsory and involuntary psychiatric treatment, may be appealed through administrative procedures. Every six months following the imposition of compulsory psychiatric treatment, the administration of the psychiatric facility will submit the commission’s decision, together with the relevant documentation, to the court. The court will examine whether the grounds on which the treatment was imposed continue to exist.

Under the amendments, the treating physician will retain the authority to refer the case to the commission at any time if they consider that the patient has recovered before the prescribed term has expired.