Reintegro de gastos sanitarios entre Estados miembros y creencias religiosas de la persona: una problemática a resolver en el contexto del ordenamiento de la Unión Europea(Sentencia del Tribunal de Justicia de 29 octubre 2020, as. C-243/19)

Zusammenfassung

The Judgment of the Court of Justice —Second Chamber— of October 29, 2020 resolves two preliminary questions raised by the Supreme Court of Latvia in relation to a case of reimbursement of health care expenses between Member States of the European Union, from their interaction with the Respect for religious beliefs, which are at the base of the refusal of a Jehovah’s Witness citizen to undergo surgery in his country of affiliation (Latvia), as it necessarily entails the practice of a blood transfusion. Rejection that is followed after the processing of the corresponding authorization in his social security system to carry out the same surgical intervention in another Member State (Poland), with the use of a medical practice for the same ailment without blood transfusion, surgical intervention that finally it takes place in those terms, despite the successive denial of the authorization requested in the administrative and judicial instances of Latvia until reaching the Supreme Court. With these precedents, the cited Judgment of the Court of Justice, on the normative basis offered by Articles 20.1 and 2 of Regulation no. 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of April 29, 2004, on the coordination of social security systems, articles 7 and 8.5-6 of Directive 2011/24 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 9 of March 2011, on the application of the rights of patients in cross-border healthcare and article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, resolves the preliminary ruling questions raised in relation to whether a Member State can deny authorization on the basis of the regulations listed when in the State of residence of the person a hospital treatment is available whose medical efficacy is not in doubt, although the method of treatment used is not in accordance with the religious convictions of said person.