Judicialization of health and the Covid-19 pandemic: New challenges for the health care and justice systems

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, a disease caused by the new coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2), has put health systems in several countries under severe pressure. In Brazil, this pressure affects a system that already suffered from serious deficiencies – accentuated by fiscal austerity policies since 2016 - of limited capacity to respond to demands, especially from the most vulnerable populations. The pandemic make the shortage of health professionals, personal protective equipment, intensive care unit beds, mechanical respirators, and other supplies more acute. In this scenario, the Judiciary begins to be provoked by actions directly related to the pandemic. The objectives of this article, therefore, were to describe the health-related legal demands between February and April 2020, the beginning of the pandemic in Brazil, and to analyze their repercussions on the justice and health systems. This was a descriptive study of Covid-19 related lawsuits, based on data collected from the websites of the state courts of justice and federal regional courts, and from the monitoring panels at the National Council of Justice and the Federal Supreme Court. By April 30, 2020, 129 lawsuits linked to Covid-19 had been initiated in the country, with access to intensive care unit beds as the most frequent object (71 lawsuits; 55%). In addition to the shortage of intensive care unit beds, the discussion about the use of chloroquine by Covid-19 patients may have contributed to the increase in the number of health-related lawsuits. The Judiciary has been adopting specific organizational measures to face the new situation. The health care system, in contrast, has not been prepared for an increase in legal demands.