M., M. R. v. PROFE Ministerio de Salud

The plaintiff brought the case with First Instance Civil and Commercial Court of San Martín [Juzgado de Primera Instancia en lo Civil y Comercial N°7 de San Martín] against the provincial executive organ of the Federal Program of Health [PROFE Salud] to provide coverage and prescribed medicines she needed for her strict treatment for her systemic lupus erymatosus. The provincial court held that it was not competent because a health insurance company was being sued and according to Law 23 660 and 23 661 the federal jurisdiction is the applicable when health insurances companies are sued. The case was send to the Federal First Instance Court of San Martín [Juzgado Federal de Primera Instancia N°2 de San Martín] which also declared that it was not competent to solve the case because the executive organ of the program was the Provincial Ministry of Health.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court of Justice to decide which Court was competent to solve the case.

The Supreme Court of Justice held that the competent court was the First Instance Civil and Commercial Court of San Martín [Juzgado de Primera Instancia en lo Civil y Comercial N°7 de San Martín] because even though the Federal Program of Health was created by the National Ministry of Health, it celebrated agreements with the provinces, in this case with the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, so the program is under provincial execution and jurisdiction, by provincial decree 1532/10. This criteria was adopted also in the Supreme Court's precedent "González Fabiana L.v. PROFE Salud".