Sanctioning Chile’s Public Health Care System for Not Providing Basic Services to the Elderly: The Inter-American Court’s Poblete Vilches Ruling

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the case of Poblete Vilches et al. v. Chile. Poblete Vilches, a senior citizen, died in February 2001 due to septic shock and bilateral bronchopneumonia after being treated in a public hospital in Chile. The ruling held the state of Chile responsible for a number of human rights violations. The paper evaluates the interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights as carried out by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It concludes that the sentence explicitly developed criteria in relation to informed consent as a derivation of the right to health and implicitly recognized, from a gerontological perspective, a manifestation of structural abuse toward older persons and their supportive environments. The gerontological gaze brings new challenges for the development of older persons’ rights. The ruling is unique in the inter-American human rights system, as recognized by the court itself.