Judicialization of health care in the Western Amazon: collective decisions of the jurisdictional court of justice in the State of Acre, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: the judicialization of health is an alternative to the health services in Brazil, despite criticism of judicial decisions and control of public health policy. The large number of actions that demand health services is a health problem that characterizes the political, social, ethical, legal, and health systems of the Public Health Policy. Objective: to analyze the judicialization of health care in the Acre State, Brazil, from 2010 to 2016. Methods: it is a documentary and cross-sectional study of collegiate decisions, with final judgments, in the period from 2010 to 2016, issued by the Court of Justice of the State of Acre, Results: all proposed actions were Writ of Mandamus. The use of preliminary injunction was the most common strategy (n = 34; 94.44%). One third of the respondents were not questioned by the State of Acre (n = 9; 25%) as decisions of the Court of Justice on health concern medicines, examinations, and procedures, in these cases, it only manages interests, with no litigation per se. (n = 25, 69.44%). Men and women demanded in the same proportion, all of them characterized by living in poverty (n = 28; 77.78%). Conclusion: the collective health decisions handed down by the State Court of Justice Acre, Brazil, guarantee access to health goods and services to the claimants, with emphasis on preliminary injunctions and grounds based on the principle of human dignity, physical integrity and life, and on medical prescriptions in each specific case and, in a third of the cases, serving as a mere administration of interests.