Health litigation and new challenges in the management of pharmaceutical services

Health litigation spurs many challenges in the management of pharmaceutical services. Performance of health managers and decision-makers must be adjusted to new administrative and legal boundaries. Their actions must also be efficient in responding to ongoing lawsuits, as well as in avoiding additional litigation and in upholding principles and directives of the Brazilian Health System (SUS). This paper proposes to better understand one of the aspects of health litigation, namely the growing use of lawsuits demanding medicines, and the relationship between this phenomenon and pharmaceutical services management in SUS. Through review and analysis of available published research on the subject, from various Brazilian states, the main elements of medicines litigation are presented and examined in light of their interference on the activities of the pharmaceutical services cycle. The analysis points to possible mechanisms to be adopted by decision-makers in management and in the Judicial System, since the right to health can only be effectively established when management and Justice are predominantly aware and committed to the safety and the protection of patients and users.