Judicialization of adverse events in health care in Brazil: an integrative review

Abstract

Objective: to examine the adverse events related to health care in Brazil that were judicially sanctioned and the factors that contributed to these events. Methods: this was an integrative literature review. The Virtual Health Library (VHL), Pubmed, Embase, Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scielo) and Scopus were selected for the bibliographic search. The search, conducted without a specific time frame, yielded 510 studies, of which 14 articles were selected for analysis. Results: The results were classified into two categories: i) adverse events reported in Brazil and the contributing factors; ii) strategies to reduce the legalization of adverse events. The selected references were published between 2010 and 2019. The most frequently mentioned specialties in the legalization processes were gynecology, obstetrics, and surgery. The emergency sector was the most frequently mentioned site, and the most frequently mentioned adverse events were related to infections and surgery. Final considerations: we emphasize the importance of encouraging the discussion about the health’s judicialization of adverse events, contributing to their prevention, mitigation and, simultaneously, to the reduction of lawsuits and consequent improvement in the quality of health care and patient safety.