Investigation under the viewpoint of health judicialization of an intensive therapy unit in the city of São Luís, State of Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

Study on the judicialization of health relative to the granting of beds of adult intensive care units, through the Judicial Power in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The objective of this study is to understand the phenomenon of judicialization, based on the characteristics of the lawsuits in relation to claimant, defendant and process, understanding the judges’ criteria for their decisions and verifying compliance with these decisions, due to the significant increase in the number of lawsuits originated by the demand of beds in adult intensive care units in São Luís, capital of the state of Maranhão. It is a documentary study, with a selection of 25 legal cases with final judgments, containing an intensive care unit request, occurred between January 2009 and February 2016. The results showed that individual actions with an adult intensive care unit demand corresponded to 100%; actions with the representation of a private lawyer, 60%; from the public health service, 64%; male gender, 56%; and elderly people in the age range between 80-99 years, 44% being these the revailing processes among those selected and analyzed. The majority of judges used the BrazilianConstitution of 1988 markedly the right to health, as the criterion for decision-making. In compliance with the decisions, a greater number of patients had access to intensive care units. In view of the need for dialogue between the Executive and Judicial powers, to expedite the fulfillment of demands, the importance of the sanitary mediation institute is increasing as a more effective alternative of negotiation between public and private health systems and the Judicial Poweror all.