Public Prosecutor’s Office, Judicialization and Extrajudicial Action in Health

Abstract

This article aimed to identify the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo (MPSP) in the health judicialization process. Therefore, we analyze their judicial and extrajudicial activities and the strategies used by their members in the control of public health policies. We adopted quantitative and qualitative methods, conducting data of judicial and extrajudicial actions, collecting documents and information on the website of the MPSP and the Court of Justice of São Paulo, systematic analysis of the documents and semi-structured interviews. It was possible to verify that judicialization represents only a part of the performance of MPSP in health policy. A significant part of this performance takes place through the extrajudicial route, without the interaction of the institution with the Judiciary. We found that in both actions: judicial and extrajudicial, the MPSP does not focus on collective rights. In the case of class actions, the focus on individual protection can lead to great losses in the discussion about collective rights; and in the case of its extrajudicial performance, despite being focused on collective protection, it is not directed to the diffusion of social rights.