The use of Scientific Evidence to Support Judicial Decisions

Abstract

Seeking the Judiciary is an alternative to get access to medicines in Brazil. In attempt to regulate this process, the National Justice Council published in 2010 the Recommendation n. 31 advising the Courts of Justice (CJ) to sign technical support agreements in order to instantiate the judicial decisions through Technical Notes (TN) and Quick Technical Responses (QTR) wording. This study analyzed the conformity between the TN and QTR recommendations and the judicial decisions related to lawsuits against Minas Gerais State, Brazil, from 2014 to 2016. At the end, the financial resource that would be saved if magistrates had denied all technically not advised medicines was estimated. The TN and QTR from Minas Gerais CJ’s website were analyzed: 124 TN and their respective lawsuits involving 156 medicines; 341 QTR and their legal actions encompassing 810 drugs. The annual purchase price of medicines not advised by the TN and QTR was estimated. For TN: 20% conformity between favorable to the drug dispensation judicial decision and TN; 3% of TN were in favor of it, but judicial decision was against it; 21% agreement between unfavorable to the drug dispensation judicial decision and TN. In 56% of the cases, the magistrate approved the medicine request despite the TN recommendation against it. For QTR: 38% conformity between favorable to the drug dispensation judicial decision and QTR; 14% agreement between unfavorable to the drug dispensation judicial decision and QTR. In 48% of the cases, the QTR were against it, but the judge approved the drug request. The estimated cost to purchase the not technically advised medicines was USD 1359245.89. The conformity between judicial decisions and TN and QTR recommendations was low. It’s necessary to evaluate if the use of technical advises is the way to solve the “Health Judicialization” in Brazil.