A 63-year-old man with anal and colon cancer had to submit a request for protection so that the supplementary pension operator Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal SA would deposit his money according to the mandatory pension scheme (ROP).
On September 29, the person filed the application for protection in Chamber IV, claiming that the operator had denied him bail because, despite medical documents confirming his condition, he had not proven that he was in the final stages of his illness located.
According to these writings, his chance of surviving both diseases is 20% based on his age. In addition, he expressed that he had stopped the chemotherapy administered at the San Juan de Dios Hospital because it affected other organs.
According to Exp: 23-024065-0007-CO of the case, this health center refused to issue him a certificate stating that he was in terminal stages; even though he is close to her.
Because of this proximity to death, he explained to Room IV, he needed the deposit of the ROP while still alive to complete his last days with dignity in the form of medicines, diapers and other supplies that the Costa pension granted him The Rican Insurance Fund Social (CCSS) does not fully cover.
According to Resolution No. 30527-2023 of November 24, the operator informed the patient that the transfer of the money was not possible without a final phase certificate from the CCSS and, moreover, the file shows that Nor did not do so. The complainant requested the pension supervisory authority a total or partial withdrawal of his ROP.
As evidence of a better solution, the constitutional judges on October 27 called for a report from the forensic medical clinical department of the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Judicial Investigation Organization, which found that the patient was then suffering from an “advanced, incurable and progressive” oncological disease suffered illness. in the advanced final stages.”
Based on life expectancy, the probability of 30-day survival was between 30 and 70% according to palliative prognosis scales.
After analyzing the evidence presented, the Constitutional Court found a violation of the patient's fundamental rights in a clear state of vulnerability as a result of his state of health.
The decision indicates that at the time of requesting the relevant certificate from the San Juan de Dios Hospital, the man did not meet the conditions for the final phase. However, the constitutional judges considered his situation to be exceptional since he was a person who, after examination, the forensic medicine department found to be suffering from an incurable disease.
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For Chamber IV, the extreme situation of the protected person, who could die at any time, made it impossible to apply the general rules for the enjoyment of the ROP established by the defendants.
“We are thus once again faced with a case in which the strict and inflexible system established and applied to provide ROPC funds equally to all applicants in the districts becomes arbitrary, unreasonable and disproportionate and, consequently, “the fundamental rights “attacks those who need it.” it, in this case, the ward,” it says literally Resolution No. 30527-2023.
The letter highlighted a point the patient made: he needed his savings from the pension provider before he found himself completely in a bed where he could no longer use the money.
For the Court, this person has a fundamental right to enjoy a quality of life during his or her lifetime and, with these resources, to endure with dignity the illness from which he or she suffers.
In particular, the resolution states, you have the right to spend the last months of your life with all the money you own and have saved over the years; Invest it however you want: be it for healthcare or for pending personal matters, so that you have as much peace and tranquility as possible in your final months.