BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: August 17, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Richard Gordon, Chair
SCR
77 (Liu) - As Introduced June 29, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
SUBJECT: Pain Awareness Month and Women in Pain Awareness Day.
SUMMARY: Recognize September 2015 as Pain Awareness Month and
call upon all Californians to observe this month by learning how
to improve the quality of life of Californians suffering from
pain; and this resolution also recognizes September 11, 2015, as
Women In Pain Awareness Day to draw public attention to gender
disparity in pain assessment and treatment in the United States.
Specifically, this resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1.More than 100 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.
3.Women have a higher prevalence than men of chronic pain
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syndromes and diseases associated with chronic pain, such as
fibromyalgia, complex pain syndrome, and osteoarthritis, and
women respond differently to certain analgesics.
4.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.
5.The California-based Partners for Understanding Pain is a
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
For Grace
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916)
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319-2800