Teen With Disability in Critical Condition After Rejections from Hospitals, Delayed Care
An 18-year-old young man with disability is in critical condition at a Tbilisi hospital after, as his family and activists say, three clinics refused to admit him. His mother is seeking financial help to bring in foreign doctors, saying his condition has worsened since treatment began.
Anzor Davituri is now intubated at Tbilisi’s GeoHospitals, where he was admitted “after a big battle and four hospitals,” his mother, Maia Baratashvili, said on August 24. The disability rights advocates say that Davituri, apparently in distress due to pain but unable to communicate, was refused admission by three clinics, while a fourth hospital initially referred him to a psychiatric facility, left him lying on the floor for hours, and ultimately administered an anesthetic before eventually transferring him to a ward.
According to the mother, the following morning, doctors informed her that her son’s condition had “changed,” prompting his transfer to emergency care and subsequent intubation. “Three days later, I still don’t know and have no precise diagnosis on why [Davituri’s] condition has deteriorated,” the mother said, adding that tests indicate his condition continues to worsen.
The Health Ministry said it is studying the case, while Baratashvili and activists argue that Georgian doctors lack proper training and guidelines to treat patients with disabilities. Anna Arganashvili, a disability rights advocate, said the case reflects systemic failures by Georgian doctors to recognize different needs.
“This is the least accidental incident, one the state was obliged to prevent,” Arganashvili wrote on Facebook on August 23. “The state knew, or should have known, that this would happen.”
Arganashvili added on August 24 that the hospital treating Davituri has failed to provide the family with proper information about his condition, calling it a violation of the hospital’s legal obligation to keep patients informed and describing the attitude as “humiliating.”
On August 22, family members of the patient and supporters gathered outside the government administration, demanding a meeting with Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. They also called for the involvement of Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze. A day later, they met with Sarjveladze, who reportedly said several leading doctors in Georgia would be involved in the treatment.
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