Judgment T-760/08 on the Right to Health
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health care for every baby during his or her first year of life—art. 50, Political
Constitution). Other obligations of programmatic character derived from a
fundamental right are carried out progressively, because of the complexity of
the actions and resources required to guarantee the effective enjoyment of
these protective aspects of the right.” (p 5, #3.3.6.)
Constitutional court precedent delineating standards health services essential for a “life of
dignity:”
- “As the fundamental right to health is limited, the benefits plan need not be
infinite but can be circumscribed to cover the health needs and priorities
determined by the competent authorities in light of the efficient use of scarce
resources. Consequently, the Constitutional court has on numerous occasions
denied services solicited through tutelas. For example, the Court has denied
cosmetic services. Although obesity can in the long run have consequences for the
health of a person, every individual has the obligation of taking care of his own
health and therefore trying to prevent the diseases that arise from being
overweight. Only when obesity reaches a level where it poses definite and
potentially irreversible dangers to a person’s life and personal integrity does the
prescribed surgery acquire constitutional relevance which has led to tutelas being
conceded. The same applies to dental care, as healthy and complete teeth are
desirable but are far from necessary to preserve the life or personal integrity of a
person or to permit a life of dignity. The Court has even agreed that the benefits
plan can exclude fertility treatments. (p. 7 # 3.5.1)
- Other examples of cases in which treatments and services have been denied
include eyeglasses and refractive eye surgery, cosmetic treatments, fertility
treatments, alcoholic rehabilitation/detoxification, prostheses, gastric bypass
surgery, dental services, certain allergy treatments. (p. 8 # 3.5.2)
- Examples of situations where court found state did have an obligation to ensure
coverage: bone marrow transplant and treatment for hemophilia (p. 19 #6.1.2.1.2)
Expert opinions regarding urgency of service and whether essential to protect right to
dignified life:
- “The scientific opinion of the physician is the main criterion to determine
whether a health service is required, but is not the exclusive criterion. In the
Health System, the person responsible for deciding when someone requires a
health service is the physician, as the physician is able to decide based on
scientific criteria and because he knows the patient. Constitutional jurisprudence
has held that the relevant opinion to be used is that of the physician attached to the
entity responsible for ensuring the provision of the service. Therefore, in
principle, the protection of tutela will often be denied when it is invoked without
such an opinion. Constitutional jurisprudence has protected the right to
health through the tutela when the service is required according to the