ABSTRACT
Este texto analisa as dificuldades de um léxico uniformizado em torno da área, da prática e da investigação jurídica em torno do Direito e da Saúde, gerando múltiplas designações (Direito Médico, da Medicina, Sanitário, Biodireito, etc.). Seguidamente, defende que o Direito da Saúde se desenvolveu como um ramo do saber jurídico autónomo, com um conjunto de princípios, métodos hermenêuticos, um objeto de análise específico e problemas próprios de organização judiciária. Salientando a importância das ciências vizinhas, como a Bioética, a Medicina Legal, a Economia da Saúde, o Autor defende que só um pensamento jurídico estruturado, com formação dogmática e histórica, com capacidade de diálogo interdisciplinar, permitirá o desenvolvimento do Direito da Saúde, o que assume especial relevância no Século XXI, com a carência de água, com a hiperpopulação e a urbanização crescente da vida em sociedade.
This text analyzes the difficulties of a lexicon standardized around the area of practice and legal research concerning the interface between Law and Healthcare, generating multiple designations (Medical Law, Health Law, Biolaw, etc.). Next, it argues that Healthcare Law developed as a separate branch of knowledge with a set of legal principles, hermeneutical methods, a specific object of analysis and problems of judicial organization. Stressing the importance of neighboring sciences such as bioethics, the Legal Medicine, Health Economics, the author argues that only a structured legal thought, with a dogmatic and historical education, with capacity of interdisciplinary dialogue, will enable the development of Health Law, which is particularly relevant in the twenty-first century, with the lack of water, the global over-population challenge and the increasing urbanization of life in society.
este texto analiza las dificultades de un léxico estandarizado alrededor del área de práctica y la investigación legal en torno a la Ley y la Salud, lo que ha generado múltiples denominaciones (derecho médico, derecho sanitario, Bioderecho, etc.). A continuación, se argumenta que el Derecho de la Salud ha desarrollado como una rama del conocimiento legal separada con un conjunto de principios, métodos hermenéuticos, un objeto específico de análisis y problemas de organización judicial. Destacando la importancia de las ciencias vecinas tales como la bioética, la Medicina Legal, la Economía de la Salud, el autor sostiene que sólo un pensamiento jurídico estructurado, con una formación dogmática e histórica, con capacidad de diálogo interdisciplinario, permitirá el desarrollo del derecho sanitario, que es particularmente relevante en el siglo XXI, con la falta de agua, el reto de la sobre-populación planetaria y el aumento de la urbanización de la vida en la sociedad.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To explore whether the rule of law is a foundational determinant of health that underlies other socioeconomic, political and cultural factors that have been associated with health outcomes. SETTING: Global project. PARTICIPANTS: Data set of 96 countries, comprising 91% of the global population. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The following health indicators, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, life expectancy, and cardiovascular disease and diabetes mortality rate, were included to explore their association with the rule of law. We used a novel Rule of Law Index, gathered from survey sources, in a cross-sectional and ecological design. The Index is based on eight subindices: (1) Constraints on Government Powers; (2) Absence of Corruption; (3) Order and Security; (4) Fundamental Rights; (5) Open Government; (6) Regulatory Enforcement, (7) Civil Justice; and (8) Criminal Justice. RESULTS: The rule of law showed an independent association with infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, life expectancy, and cardiovascular disease and diabetes mortality rate, after adjusting for the countries' level of per capita income, their expenditures in health, their level of political and civil freedom, their Gini measure of inequality and women's status (p<0.05). Rule of law remained significant in all the multivariate models, and the following adjustment for potential confounders remained robust for at least one or more of the health outcomes across all eight subindices of the rule of law. Findings show that the higher the country's level of adherence to the rule of law, the better the health of the population. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to start considering the country's adherence to the rule of law as a foundational determinant of health. Health advocates should consider the improvement of rule of law as a tool to improve population health. Conversely, lack of progress in rule of law may constitute a structural barrier to health improvement.