Through Ruling T-055-23, the Constitutional Court orders psychological assessment as a requirement to perform plastic surgery.
By: Angelica Andrade
Arguing that the tear in the lobe of the right ear, caused by the weight of the earrings, generates psychological effects that prevent her from continuing her life normally, a woman from Santa Marta asked her EPS to authorize the medical order for the realization of a surgical reconstruction procedure, a requirement that was denied by the entity considering that the surgery has aesthetic purposes.
After the refusal of the EPS, the citizen filed a guardianship action through which the judge of the town of Samaria did not indicate to authorize it either and, on the contrary, decided to order a psychological evaluation.
Thus, the First Review Chamber, made up of judges Natalia Ángel Cano (rapporteur), Diana Fajardo Rivera and judge Juan Carlos Cortés González, identified that, despite the ruling of the Santa Marta judge, the EPS had not facilitated the psychological assessment with which it would be established if the surgical procedure requested by the citizen could be authorized or not, noting that, “Her right to health was violated because she was not assessed by psychology”, since an effective diagnosis was not made that would allow set the origin of the operation.
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“Currently there is an affectation of the right to health, specifically a violation of the right to an effective diagnosis of the plaintiff, since the psychological assessment has not yet been carried out, which had already been ordered by the treating doctors and which allowed establishing the nature of the procedure,” added the Court.
Finally, the ruling indicated that five business days are assigned for the EPS to comply with the instruction to provide a psychological assessment, requested by the plaintiff’s doctors.