Doctors, lawyers and pharmaceutical industry on health lawsuits in Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil

To describe the relationship between the prescribing doctor, lawyer and pharmaceutical industry in lawsuits against the state. Retrospective descriptive study based on data from administrative files, relating to lawsuits involving medicine demands, in the state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista de saúde pública 2012-10, Vol.46 (5), p.784-790
Main Authors: Campos Neto, Orozimbo Henriques, Acurcio, Francisco de Assis, Machado, Marina Amaral de Ávila, Ferré, Felipe, Barbosa, Fernanda Loureiro Vasconcelos, Cherchiglia, Mariângela Leal, Andrade, Eli Iola Gurgel
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Brazil
Child
Child, Preschool
Drug Industry - legislation & jurisprudence
Drug Prescriptions
Drugs, Essential
Female
Health Services Accessibility - legislation & jurisprudence
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Judicial Role
Lawyers
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Rights - legislation & jurisprudence
Physicians
Retrospective Studies
Young Adult
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To describe the relationship between the prescribing doctor, lawyer and pharmaceutical industry in lawsuits against the state. Retrospective descriptive study based on data from administrative files, relating to lawsuits involving medicine demands, in the state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil, from October 1999 to October 2009. A total of 2,412 lawsuits were analyzed with 2,880 medicine requests, including 18 different drugs, 12 of them provided through Pharmaceutical Policies of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). The most frequent medicines requested included were adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, insulin glargine and tiotropium bromide. The main diseases were rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Private lawyers and doctors were predominant. The results revealed the association between doctors and law offices on drug requests. Among the lawsuits filed by the office A, 43.6% had a single prescriber to adalimumab, while 29 doctors were responsible for 40.2% of the same drug prescriptions. A single doctor was responsible for 16.5% of the adalimumab prescriptions, being requested through lawsuits filed by a single private law office in 44.8% of legal proceedings. A greater representation of doctors and lawyers from the private sector can hinder equity in health. The results revealed the association between doctors and law offices on drug requests. This is an indication that justice and medical practice have been used, at certain times, to serve the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
ISSN:1518-8787
DOI:10.1590/S0034-89102012000500004