The Respondent was charged with nine counts of aggravated sexual assault for not disclosing his HIV-positive status to nine Complainants before engaging in sexual intercourse with them. None of the Complainants tested positive for HIV. At trial, the Respondent was convicted on six counts and acquitted on three. He was acquitted on the basis of …Read more

A fifteen-year old teenager became pregnant as a result of being sexually abused by her stepfather. In the eight week of pregnancy, through her legal representative, she asked the judiciary to order doctors of a public hospital to perform her abortion. She based her claim on article 86. 2 of the National Criminal Code (the “Criminal …Read more

This case deals with the destruction of the Mayan community of Río Negro by a series of massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan army and members of the civil self-defence patrols in 1980 and 1982 which, according to the IACmHR, included the persecution and elimination of members of the Mayan community, subsequent violations directed against the …Read more

The plaintiffs, 1200 women filing a joint tutela, seek constitutional protection against false information being spread by the Attorney General of Colombia regarding emergency contraception. The Attorney General stated that emergency contraceptive that contained Levonorgestrel was an abortificant as the contraceptive can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg on to the walls of the uterus. …Read more

The Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Mental Health Centre Penetanguichene (MHCP)appealed an order by the Mental Disorder Court to send a person accused of sexual assault to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. The judge knew that beds for treatment would not be available until six days later. The appeal was on …Read more

This case alleged human rights violations resulting from Costa Rica’s prohibition on the practice of in vitro fertilization (“IVF”), which had been in effect in Costa Rica since 2000, following a ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court of Justice (“Constitutional Chamber”) in which it was held that IVF violated the right to …Read more

Mr. T. and Ms. D separated after three years of marriage when their child- V was two years old. The couple had major disagreements over the care and custody arrangements. Ms. D. was given sole interim custody and authority over all health care decisions. Ms. D. refused to vaccinate the child against common infectious diseases. …Read more

The Crown alleged that the complainant, a 26-year-old woman with the mental age of a three to 6-year-old was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her mother’s partner D.A.I during the four years that he lived in their home. The Crown sought to call the complainant to testify about the alleged assaults. The trial judge found that …Read more

The applicant was a citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines who entered Canada on a visitor visa, and remained in Canada illegally after his visa had expired. During this time, he was hospitalized after losing his eyesight and memory. He was diagnosed with a benign tumor affecting his brain and pituitary gland. The tumor …Read more

This case had started in a suit brought before the Federal District Court by twenty-six States, several individuals, and the National Federation of Independent Business against the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) questioning the constitutionality of two provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the Act) of …Read more

The plaintiff filed a suit to the First Instance Contentious Administrative and Tributary Court of the City Buenos Aires [Juzgado N° 14 Contencioso Administrativo y Tributario de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires] against the City of Buenos Aires [Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires] to obliged them to declare the nullity of the Resolution N° 1174 MSGC-07 …Read more

The plaintiff brought the case to the First Instance Criminal Court of Lomas de Zamora [Juzgado de Garantias n° 3 de Lomas de Zamora] against three workers of the painting factory “MATRA” who presumably threw toxic substances in an area located in Esteban Echeverría, violating Law 24 051. The First Instance Criminal Court of Lomas de …Read more

The plaintiff, the mother of her underage daughter, filed a suit with First Instance Civil and Commercial Court of La Matanza [Juzgado de Primera Instancia en lo Civil y Comercial N°1 del Departamento Judicial de la Matanza] to obtain liquidate damages against the physician and hospital who treated her daughter and the health insurance company …Read more

The plaintiff filed a guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) to the First Instance Family Court [Juzgado de Familia N°1 de Olavarría] against the Federal Program of Health [PROFE Salud]  to provide the medication prescribed by her physician to treat her chronic kidney failure. The local court held it was not competent …Read more

The plaintiff filed a guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) against the National Institute of Social Services for Retiree [Instituto Nacional de Servicios Sociales para Jubilados y Pensionados – PAMI] in the First Instance Court which admitted the suit and ordered the respondent to pay monthly for the coverage of an domiciliary …Read more

Association acnadienne contre l’impunité (“ACCI”), on behalf of victims of Kilwa massacre and NGOs, made a motion for appeal to proceed class action against Anvil Mining Limited (“Anvil”). Anvil is a Canadian mining company with headquarters in Perth, Australia, with sole business is exploitation of copper near Dikulushi in the Democratic Republic of the congo …Read more

This case involved a challenge to background checks for government jobs on the basis of constitutional privacy.  Nelson and twenty-seven other federal contract employees, working for NASA at a government laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, claimed that two elements of a standard employment background investigation violated their constitutional rights:  a questionnaire that asked …Read more

This case involved an appeal from a decision made by a three-judge court that was convened by the Federal District Court to decide the appropriate remedy for violations of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The violations were the subject of two related Federal District Court cases in California: Coleman v. Brown (1990) …Read more

Pharmacies, “as a matter of business routine and federal law, receive prescriber-identifying information when processing prescriptions.” This “[k]nowledge of a physician’s prescription practices—called prescriber-identifying information,’” enables marketers representing pharmaceutical drug manufacturers (Detailers) to better “ascertain which doctors are likely to be interested in a particular drug and how best to present a particular sales message.” …Read more

Metoclopramide is a drug commonly used to treat digestive tract problems such as diabetic gastroparesis and gastroesophageal reflux disorder. In 1980, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved metoclopramide tablets under the brand name Reglan. Generic manufacturers also began producing metoclopramide five years later. Over its usage history, evidence accumulated that long-term metoclopramide use …Read more

Insite was a medical facility that supervised intravenous drug use. It was established in response to escalating intravenous drug use and a rise in HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C infections among the population of the downtown eastside (DTES) area of Vancouver. In 2003, pursuant to section 56 of the Controlled Drug and Substances Act (CDSA), which …Read more

The author of the communication, the mother of a woman who had died during childbirth, claimed that Brazilian authorities had not ensured access to quality medical treatment during her daughter’s delivery in violation of nondiscrimination provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). More specifically, the author of …Read more

The Brazilian Federal Government filed an interlocutory appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision of the lower court, the Federal Court of the 1st Region (Tribunal Regional Federal da 1ª Região), to dismiss the extraordinary appeal filed to challenge the court’s decision recognizing the legitimacy of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office to propose a public …Read more

The plaintiff, Claudio Rodrigues, filed a lawsuit against the tobacco company, Souza Cruz, seeking damages for the death of his spouse, alleging that was caused by consumption of the tobacco products produced by Souza Cruz. The plaintiff argued that his spouse had been influenced into consuming the tobacco products by misleading advertisements that portrayed healthy …Read more

The Municipality of Caxias do Sul filed an extraordinary appeal against the decision of the lower court, which had found that the federal, state and municipal governments possessed joint liability to provide medications free of charge, for the treatment of serious disease, to those deemed to be financially needy, in order to abide by the …Read more

A defendant in a rape case petitioned a writ of Habeas Corpus before the Federal Supreme Court against the Court of Appeals decision because the survivor refused to be subject to physical exam and the jurisprudence gives extra weight to witness evidence in absence of such exam.  The second argument was that the Court of …Read more

Rio Grande do Sul filed an interlocutory appeal against the lower court’s decision that denied the special appeal affirming Rio Grande do Sul’s duty to care for its citizen’s health, specifically by providing surgery and certain medications at no cost to Rinaldo Pinzetta, a needy citizen. The Court also assessed a fine to Rio Grande …Read more

The State of São Paulo filed an interlocutory appeal against the decision of the lower court (Tribunal de Justicia del Estado de São Paulo) that recognized the Public Prosecutor’s Office as a legitimate party to bring civil actions to protect “unavailable individual interests.” The state argued that the decision contravened articles 129 (institutional functions of the …Read more

The plaintiff, a Mexican national, presented an appeal for legal protection against Mexico, arguing that modifications of the General Health Law (Ley General de Salud), which controlled and regulated tobacco advertising, constituted a violation of the constitutional right to health, as enshrined in Article 4 of the Constitution and falling within the scope of Article …Read more