BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SCR 65| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SCR 65 Author: Liu (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SUBJECT : Pain Awareness Month and Women In Pain Awareness Day SOURCE : For Grace (A Project of Community Partners) DIGEST : This resolution recognizes September 2012 as Pain Awareness Month and calls upon all Californians to observe that month by learning how to improve the quality of life of Californians suffering from pain, and also recognizes September 14, 2012, as Women In Pain Awareness Day to draw public attention to gender disparity in pain assessment and treatment in the United States. ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative findings: 1.More than 116 million Americans live with chronic pain caused by various diseases or disorders, and, each year, nearly 25 million Americans suffer with acute pain. 2.Though medical knowledge and technology exist to relieve or greatly ease pain, most pain is untreated, undertreated, or improperly treated, and many health care professionals are still unaware of how to effectively treat pain. CONTINUED SCR 65 Page 2 3.People who suffer from chronic pain often are stigmatized and marginalized and often are not informed about the right to effective pain assessment and management, and most people with pain, including those at the end of life, get little or no relief. 4.Women have a higher prevalence than men of chronic pain syndromes and diseases associated with chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, complex pain syndrome, or osteoarthritis, and women respond differently to certain analgesics. 5.Women's pain reports are taken less seriously than those of men and women receive less aggressive treatment than men for their pain. 6.Women have developed a number of coping mechanisms to deal with pain, and this may contribute to a general perception that they can endure more pain and that their pain does not need to be taken as seriously. 7.Women more frequently report pain to a health care provider, but are more likely to have their pain reports discounted as emotional or psychogenic and, therefore, not real. 8.The California-based Partners for Understanding Pain is a growing coalition of pain sufferers, physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, therapists, civic leaders, nonprofit organizations, and health care businesses whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people in California experiencing pain. 9.It is the collective mission of this movement to provide practical information for people with pain, inform health care professionals about pain management, and serve as an advocate for people experiencing pain. FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/12) For Grace (A Project of Community Partners) (source) SCR 65 Page 3 CTW:n 6/20/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****