Region: Americas
Year: 2011
Court: Supreme Court of Justice [Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina]
Health Topics: Child and adolescent health, Chronic and noncommunicable diseases, Health care and health services, Health systems and financing, Hospitals, Medicines
Human Rights: Right to housing, Right to life
Tags: Access to health care, Access to medicines, Access to treatment, Children, Health regulation, Minor, Public hospitals
The plaintiff brought the case to the Federal Criminal Court of Lomas de Zamora [Juzgado Federal en lo Criminal y Correccional N° 2] against the responsible of the Federal Program of Health [Programa Federal de Salud (P.R.O.F.E.)] who were not providing the medicines and dialysis equipment for the treatment of her seven year old daughter, an affiliate of the program.
The Federal Criminal Court found that it was not competent to solve the lawsuit because there were no National State’s interests at stake and therefore no federal jurisdiction and send the case to the provincial jurisdiction [Juzgado de Garantías N° 2 de Lomas de Zamora]. The local court [Juzgado de Garantías N° 2 de Lomas de Zamora] found that it was not clear that there were no National State’s interests at stake so send the case back to federal jurisdiction. The Federal Court raised the question of competence to the Supreme Court of Justice.
The Supreme Court held that as the Province of Buenos Aires designated the "Instituto de Obra Médico Asistencial (IOMA)" as the executive organ of the Federal Health's Program, there were no National State's interests affected, so the provincial jurisdiction was the competent to solve the lawsuit.