Bill Text: CA SCR154 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Pain Awareness Month and Women In Pain Awareness Day.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Passed) 2016-08-17 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 104, Statutes of 2016. [SCR154 Detail]

Download: California-2015-SCR154-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: SCR 154	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  104
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  AUGUST 16, 2016
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2016
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 11, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        JUNE 15, 2016

   Relative to pain awareness.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 154, Liu. Pain Awareness Month and Women In Pain Awareness
Day.
   This measure would recognize the month of September 2016 as Pain
Awareness Month. The measure would also recognize September 23, 2016,
as Women In Pain Awareness Day.




   WHEREAS, More than 100 million Americans live with chronic pain
caused by various diseases or disorders, and nearly 25 million
Americans suffer with acute pain each year; and
   WHEREAS, 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; and
   WHEREAS, People who suffer from chronic pain often are
stigmatized, marginalized, and 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; and
   WHEREAS, Women have a higher prevalence than men of syndromes and
diseases associated with chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, complex
pain syndrome, and osteoarthritis, and women respond differently to
certain analgesics; and
   WHEREAS, Women's pain reports are taken less seriously than those
of men, and women receive less aggressive treatment than men for
their pain; and
   WHEREAS, 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; and
   WHEREAS, 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; and
   WHEREAS, 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; and
   WHEREAS, 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; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes and
declares the month of September 2016 as Pain Awareness Month, and
calls upon all Californians to observe the month by participating in
appropriate ceremonies and activities, and by learning how to improve
the quality of life for people in California suffering from pain;
and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes September 23, 2016, as
Women In Pain Awareness Day to draw public attention to the important
need to raise awareness concerning gender disparities in pain
assessment and treatment in the United States; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.