title: [Doctors, lawyers and pharmaceutical industry on health lawsuits in Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the relationship between the prescribing doctor, lawyer and pharmaceutical industry in lawsuits against the state.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective descriptive study based on data from administrative files, relating to lawsuits involving medicine demands, in the state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil, from October 1999 to October 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2,412 lawsuits were analyzed with 2,880 medicine requests, including 18 different drugs, 12 of them provided through Pharmaceutical Policies of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). The most frequent medicines requested included were adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, insulin glargine and tiotropium bromide. The main diseases were rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Private lawyers and doctors were predominant. The results revealed the association between doctors and law offices on drug requests. Among the lawsuits filed by the office A, 43.6% had a single prescriber to adalimumab, while 29 doctors were responsible for 40.2% of the same drug prescriptions. A single doctor was responsible for 16.5% of the adalimumab prescriptions, being requested through lawsuits filed by a single private law office in 44.8% of legal proceedings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A greater representation of doctors and lawyers from the private sector can hinder equity in health. The results revealed the association between doctors and law offices on drug requests. This is an indication that justice and medical practice have been used, at certain times, to serve the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
authors.affiliation: Programa Pós-Graduação em Saúde Pública, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. zimboneto@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Orozimbo Henriques
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Campos Neto
authors.forename: Francisco de Assis
authors.initials: Fde A
authors.lastname: Acurcio
authors.forename: Marina Amaral de Ávila
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferré
authors.forename: Fernanda Loureiro Vasconcelos
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Mariângela Leal
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Cherchiglia
authors.forename: Eli Iola Gurgel
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D018954:Drugs, Essential; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D033222:Judicial Role; D033241:Lawyers; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010820:Physicians; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018954:Drugs, Essential