Pain Patient's Bill of Rights (CA)

SB 402 Health: opiate drugs.

BILL NUMBER: SB 402 CHAPTERED 10/10/97 BILL TEXT


CHAPTER 839

FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1997
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 9, 1997
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 5, 1997
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 2, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 28, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 22, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 2, 1997

INTRODUCED BY Senator Greene (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bordonaro and Miller)

FEBRUARY 18, 1997

An act to add Part 4.5 (commencing with Section 124960) to Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 402, Greene. Health: opiate drugs. Existing law, the Intractable Pain Treatment Act, authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe or administer controlled substances to a person in the course of treating that person for a diagnosed condition called intractable pain, and prohibits the Medical Board of California from disciplining a physician and surgeon for this action. This bill would establish the Pain Patient's Bill of Rights and would state legislative findings and declarations regarding the value of opiate drugs to persons suffering from severe chronic intractable pain. It would, among other things, authorize a physician to refuse to prescribe opiate medication for a patient who requests the treatment for severe chronic intractable pain, require the physician to inform the patient that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates, and authorize a physician who prescribes opiates to prescribe a dosage deemed medically necessary.

SECTION 1. Part 4.5 (commencing with Section 124960) is added to Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

PART 4.5. PAIN PATIENT'S BILL OF RIGHTS

124960. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The state has a right and duty to control the illegal use of opiate drugs.

(b) Inadequate treatment of acute and chronic pain originating from cancer or noncancerous conditions is a significant health problem.

(c) For some patients, pain management is the single most important treatment a physician can provide.

(d) A patient suffering from severe chronic intractable pain should have access to proper treatment of his or her pain.

(e) Due to the complexity of their problems, many patients suffering from severe chronic intractable pain may require referral to a physician with expertise in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain. In some cases, severe chronic intractable pain is best treated by a team of clinicians in order to address the associated physical, psychological, social, and vocational issues.

(f) In the hands of knowledgeable, ethical, and experienced pain management practitioners, opiates administered for severe acute and severe chronic intractable pain can be safe.

(g) Opiates can be an accepted treatment for patients in severe chronic intractable pain who have not obtained relief from any other means of treatment.

(h) A patient suffering from severe chronic intractable pain has the option to request or reject the use of any or all modalities to relieve his or her severe chronic intractable pain.

(i) A physician treating a patient who suffers from severe chronic intractable pain may prescribe a dosage deemed medically necessary to relieve severe chronic intractable pain as long as the prescribing is in conformance with the provisions of the California Intractable Pain Treatment Act, Section 2241.5 of the Business and Professions Code.

(j) A patient who suffers from severe chronic intractable pain has the option to choose opiate medication for the treatment of the severe chronic intractable pain as long as the prescribing is in conformance with the provisions of the California Intractable Pain Treatment Act, Section 2241.5 of the Business and Professions Code.

(k) The patient's physician may refuse to prescribe opiate medication for a patient who requests the treatment for severe chronic intractable pain. However, that physician shall inform the patient that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates. 124961. Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter any of the provisions set forth in the California Intractable Pain Treatment Act, Section 2241.5 of the Business and Professions Code.

This section shall be known as the Pain Patient's Bill of Rights.

(a) A patient suffering from severe chronic intractable pain has the option to request or reject the use of any or all modalities in order to relieve his or her severe chronic intractable pain.

(b) A patient who suffers from severe chronic intractable pain has the option to choose opiate medications to relieve severe chronic intractable pain without first having to submit to an invasive medical procedure, which is defined as surgery, destruction of a nerve or other body tissue by manipulation, or the implantation of a drug delivery system or device, as long as the prescribing physician acts in conformance with the provisions of the California Intractable Pain Treatment Act, Section 2241.5 of the Business and Professions Code.

(c) The patient's physician may refuse to prescribe opiate medication for the patient who requests a treatment for severe chronic intractable pain. However, that physician shall inform the patient that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates.

(d) A physician who uses opiate therapy to relieve severe chronic intractable pain may prescribe a dosage deemed medically necessary to relieve severe chronic intractable pain, as long as that prescribing is in conformance with the California Intractable Pain Treatment Act, Section 2241.5 of the Business and Professions Code.

(e) A patient may voluntarily request that his or her physician provide an identifying notice of the prescription for purposes of emergency treatment or law enforcement identification.

(f) Nothing in this section shall do either of the following:

(1) Limit any reporting or disciplinary provisions applicable to licensed physicians and surgeons who violate prescribing practices or other provisions set forth in the Medical Practice Act, Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2000) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, or the regulations adopted thereunder.

(2) Limit the applicability of any federal statute or federal regulation or any of the other statutes or regulations of this state that regulate dangerous drugs or controlled substances.

Link

More Augustine on privation

From Against the Epistle of Manichaeus

For who can doubt that the whole of that which is called evil is nothing else than
corruption? Different evils may, indeed, be called by different names; but that which
is the evil of all things in which any evil is perceptible is corruption. So the corruption
of the educated mind is ignorance: the corruption of the prudent mind is imprudence;
the corruption of the just mind, injustice; the corruption of the brave mind, cowardice;
the corruption of a calm, peaceful mind, cupidity, fear, sorrow, pride. Again, in a
living body the corruption of health is pain and disease; the corruption of strength is
exhaustion; the corruption of rest is toil. Again, in any corporeal thing, the corruption
of beauty is ugliness; the corruption of straightness is crookedness; the corruption of
order is confusion; the corruption of entireness is disseverance, or fracture, or
diminution. . . . Enough has been said to show that corruption does harm only by
displacing the natural condition; and so, corruption is not nature, but against nature.
And if corruption is the only evil to be found anywhere, and if corruption is not
nature, no nature is evil.

On the Nature of Good

“Nature therefore which has been corrupted, is called evil, for assuredly when incorrupt it is good; but even when corrupt, so far as it is nature it is good, so far as it is corrupted it is evil.” 4