Public health policy judicial decision: interaction between political and legal system in Southern Region of Brazil

Abstract

Objective: It was investigated the interaction between the legal and political systems, through the legal and infralegal framework used by authors, defendants and judges in cases of the ministration of medicines, pharmaceutical raw material and hospitalizations. Methodology: It’s an analytical-descriptive study, of qualitative basis, conducted with primary data accessed on the Attorney General of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to analyze the processes sentenced in the first instance, in the circuit from the Courts of the Public Treasury of the Capital, in the years 2012 and 2013. Results: In the sample of 299 cases, it was found that 58.7% asked for medicines, 24% pharmaceutical raw material and 17.3% of hospitalizations. In legal reasoning, the authors used ordinances of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Federal and State Constitutions, in addition to the Law 8080/90. In his defense, the defendant used resolutions from the Bipartite Intermanagement Commission and ordinances of MS, among others. The magistrates, justified their decisions in the same legislation used by the authors and defendants, not using infralegal standards. Conclusion: The legal professionals use basically the constitution and legal norms, disregarding the infralegal framework where it is inserted the public policy.