The Role of Advocacy and Health Litigation in Access to Essential Nursing Care

The growing phenomenon of health judicialization in Brazil has raised complex ethical, legal, and operational challenges, particularly regarding its impact on access to nursing care within the Unified Health System (SUS). This study aimed to analyze how advocacy and judicialization influence the right to health from a bioethical perspective, focusing on the role of nursing as a structural component of care. An integrative literature review was conducted using EbscoHost, MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, guided by the PCC mnemonic and Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS/MeSH). Sixty-two articles were initially retrieved, of which seven met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed in detail. The findings reveal that judicialization predominantly centers on access to high-cost medicines, often neglecting essential and continuous nursing care, and imposing financial and organizational pressures on the SUS. The results also highlight governance gaps, tensions between individual rights and collective equity, and the invisibility of nursing services in judicial claims. The study concludes that although judicialization may secure individual rights, it risks compromising distributive justice and sustainability. Strengthening interinstitutional governance and incorporating bioethical principles into judicial decisions are necessary to ensure universal, equitable, and sustainable healthcare that fully values nursing care.