Health judicialization in a large city

Abstract

Introduction: judicialization as a phenomenon of guaranteeing the right to health
is a question with a growing discussion in Brazil, due to the constitutional definition
of health in the country, which contemplates integrality. Objective: to characterize
the processes of health judicialization in a large city. Method: descriptive,
quantitative and documental study conducted in the 1st and 2nd Court of the
Fazenda Pública da Comarca de Londrina – Paraná. The information was collected
in the electronic process system of the Paraná Court. Results: 706 processes were
identified, with the majority (51.2%) of the actions imposed by women, over 60
years old (47.5%), with their origin via public service (71.7%) and represented by
private lawyers (55.3%). The most demanded object were medicines (88.1%), 80.1%
of which not present in the Relação Nacional de Medicamentos Essenciais. During
the data collection period, the majority (85.5%) of the processes was in course and,
of these, 36.5% had more than 900 days. The outcome of the archived processes
was judged well founded in 60.8% and unfounded in 17.6%. The total amount
spent on judicialization during the study period was more than R$ 55,000,000.00.
Conclusion: to reduce costs and the amount of lawsuits, public health policies
should be reviewed in order to include the largest number of medicines in health
services lists, facilitating the access of these products to users of Sistema Único
de Saúde (SUS). New research is suggested to investigate the reason of medical
prescription of non-standardized medicines.