State Legislation on Palliative Care: Convergent and Divergent Points

Abstract

Background: Palliative care (PC) is justified and supported by the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988. However, Brazil remains on the list of countries that do not have specific state or federal laws and policies regulating PC in a nationwide context.Objective: To analyzing the legislation on palliative care already available in Brazilian states with a view to comparing them and determining their convergent and divergent points.Methods: A documentary research was carried out on websites and official journals of Brazilian states in search of state laws on PC. A thematic content analysis was performed following the stages of 1) pre-analysis, 2) material exploration and 3) treatment of results, inference and interpretation. Our findings were presented in a table and discussed in terms of convergent and divergent points in state laws on PC.Results: The documentary research identified only seven state laws on PC enacted between the years 2017 to 2021 in the following states: Goiás (GO), Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Maranhão (MA), Paraná (PR), São Paulo (SP) and Minas Gerais (MG), respectively.Conclusion: The goal of ensuring early access to PC by patients and their families was the main point of convergence. Guidelines for using the service, profile of professionals, and forms of financing were among the main divergent points.