Investigation under the viewpoint of health judicialization of an intensive therapy unit in the city of Sao Luis, State of Maranhao, Brazil

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 Maranhao. The objective of this study isto 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 Sao Luis, capital of the state of Maranhao. 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 25 (100%); actions with the representation of a private lawyer 15 (60%); from the public health service 16 (64%); male gender 14 (56%); and elderly people in the age range between 80-99 years 11 (44%) being these the prevailing processes among those selected and analyzed. The majority of judges used the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 markedly the right to health, as the criterion for decision-making. It should be noted that, in compliance with the decisions, a greater number of patients had access to intensive care units. In view of the urgent 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 faster and more effective alternative of negotiation between public and private health systems and the Judicial Power of Maranhao, in the pursue of the constitutional guarantee of the right to health for all.