BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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                                 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.

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          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) 








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          CTW:n  6/20/12   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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