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The Debatable Role of Courts in Brazil's Health Care System: Does Litigation Harm or Help?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Mariana Mota Prado
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Extract

The 1988 Brazilian Constitution establishes a right to health in two of its provisions. The first provision provides a relatively long list of social rights, which includes not only the right to health, but also the right to the determinants of health such as education, food, employment, and shelter (Art. 6). The second provision (Art. 196) recognizes the two components of the right to health, namely: (i) factors that are likely to affect a person’s health, such as access to clean water, sanitation and nutrition; and (ii) medical care or health services. This second provision establishes that the right to health “shall be guaranteed by means of social and economic policies aimed at reducing the risk of illness and other hazards and by the universal and equal access to actions and services for its promotion, protection and recovery.” It also enumerates state obligations, the first and most important one being the duty of the Brazilian state to guarantee the right to health to every citizen.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , Spring 2013 , pp. 124 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

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References

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