After a full day of lectures, round tables discussions and constructive debates, the II Symposium on "Law and Health: In Focus on the Judicialization of Health" came to a close on Friday evening (June 7th), in the auditorium of the Court of Justice of the State of Tocantins (TJTO), with a lecture by Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, Minister of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
The panel was coordinated by Justice Marco Villas Boas, General Director of the Superior School of the Judges of the State of Tocantins (Esmat) and President of Copedem, who expressed his satisfaction at receiving the Minister, highlighting him as a renowned lecturer, respected both in Brazil and abroad.
"You can be sure that your theoretical reference will carry a lot of weight in relation to our judicial activities and the interests of the jurisdiction," he said.
Lecture
Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva began his presentation by pointing out that the judicialization of health continues to be a major concern. He recalled that when he took up his post at the court 13 years ago, there were between 350 and 400 thousand health-related lawsuits in Brazil. Since then, this number has increased significantly, with recent data indicating an increase of around 65% between 2020 and 2023.
Ricardo noted that judicialization often benefits people with more resources and social articulation, who are able to hire good lawyers, which generates a perverse allocation of resources. Instead of serving a larger group of vulnerable people, resources are directed to a smaller, more privileged group. As an example, the Minister cited the classic cases of extremely expensive medicines.
He also highlighted the importance of Mediation and Conciliation Centers in resolving cases and the need to invest in digital platforms incorporated into electronic judicial processes.
At the end of his presentation, the Minister emphasized that all the complex issues related to the judicialization of health require intense and continuous inter-institutional dialogue.
"And I believe that only through this dialog we will be able to arrive at appropriate solutions to the complex problem. As Fernando Pessoa said, there are no conclusions; the conclusion is death, but there are ideas that must be debated. We only conclude something when the process is over and done with. That's not the case here; it's an ongoing process, a debate, an improvement. Debates like this one today will certainly result in important suggestions and proposals to try to resolve an issue as complex as the judicialization of health," he said.
Justice Pedro Nelson de Miranda Coutinho, President of the management committee for the policy of comprehensive health care for Judges and civil servers and coordinator of the event, concluded the activities of the Symposium by expressing his gratitude to the minister for having accepted the invitation and brought the event to a brilliant close.
"You closed our event with a golden key. It was very important and you can't close a chest with a golden key if there aren't many riches inside. And all the riches came from the talks during the day," he said.
The panel was made up of Justices Marco Villas Boas, Pedro Nelson de Miranda Coutinho and Ângela Prudente, Vice-President of the Court of Justice.
Tribute
On the occasion, Justice Marco Villas Boas awarded the "Justice Antonio Rulli Junior" medal, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Superior School of the Judges of the State of Tocantins, to Justice Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva.
The tribute was paid in recognition of his contribution to the construction of knowledge, the encouragement of good practices and academic dedication to scientific research, the dissemination of knowledge and the improvement of judicial service, in compliance with the constitutional principle of efficiency.
