Judicial Review and Rights Protection in Mexico: The Limits of the 2011 Amparo Reform
The paper critically discusses the potential impact of the much-awaited 2011 Mexican constitutional reform on the amparo writ, in connection with other changes the Mexican constitutional system has recently undergone. It reaches pretty pessimistic conclusions, arguing that much more should have been done to put amparo in conditions to operate effectively in terms of rights protection. The paper includes a historic overview that describes the structure of the writ and identifies some of the causes behind its current procedural complexity. And it argues that, although the reform improves to some degree access conditions as well as the kind of remedies the amparo judge can adopt, the changes are shy, and they do not significantly diminish an utterly unacceptable degree of procedural complexity. Regulatory obscurity and the impossibility of reasonably foreseeing what the filing of an amparo will end up delivering in terms of rights protection will continue to set significant barriers and keep amparo away from ordinary citizens.
Constitutional Courts in Latin America: A Testing Ground for New Parameters of Classification?
Attempting to classify the constitutional adjudication systems in Latin America is by no means an easy task given the ‘creativity’ that has been used in developing them. Very rich and diverse approaches have been taken and one would commit a gross generalisation if one were to talk of a ‘Latin American model of constitutional justice’. In many respects the object of this research poses a challenge that comparatists are typically faced with: on one hand, the need to avoid oversimplified classifications as these would not meet the aim of providing a precise picture of the legal institutions that are the object of study, on the other, the necessity of also avoiding classifications that are too detailed as these would risk thwarting the very aim of classifying i.e. to group together on the basis of similarities taking into account the differences the components of a certain group might bear to one another.
Health services utilization in adult acquired major upper-limb amputees: a population-based survey.
OBJECTIVE
To increase knowledge of health services utilization and related factors in adult acquired major upper-limb amputees.


DESIGN
Population-based cross-sectional study conducted in Norway.


SUBJECTS
Two hundred and twenty four adult acquired major upper-limb amputees (57.4% response rate). Mean age was 53.7 years, 83.5% were men and mean post-amputation time was 24.0 years.


METHODS
Data were collected by postal questionnaires. Amputation-related health services utilization, perceived benefit and unmet needs were reported and associations between these factors and background factors were estimated by multivariate logistic regression analyses.


RESULTS
Reported health services utilization was relatively low. The reported benefit of utilized services was generally high. For several non-utilized services, considerable unmet needs for utilization were reported. Several background factors were significantly associated with different aspects of the services examined. A considerable discrepancy between reported pain and utilization of specified pain treatments was noted.


CONCLUSION
The findings of this study suggest that several health services available to acquired major upper-limb amputees should be strengthened. Establishing routines to ensure access to optimal, individualized rehabilitation may prevent disability. We recommend additional, longitudinal studies to further assess the need for mental health care and pain treatment in acquired major upper-limb amputees.