“A fundamental freedom to make decision about your own body”

Why does a woman have a “A fundamental freedom to make decision about their own body” when it comes to the health issue of pregnancy, but when it comes to the treatment of both acute and chronic pain, she seems to have less – or no – right to make a decision about her own body?

Our Founding Fathers declared in our

The Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

 

Who believes that our Founding Fathers intended that their successors would create definitions for and micromanage what the meaning of our  unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are?

Our Founding Fathers – in their 18th century vocabulary and mindset – stated that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. 250 yrs later, there is so little equality or equity in our society. Are “we” too segregated into too many “tribes” to get our society back on the track our Founding Fathers initially put us on?

how many women in the USA are dealing with intractable chronic pain are being denied inadequate or no pain management?

from www.perplexity.ai:

Based on the search results provided, there is no specific statistic given for the exact number of women in the USA dealing with intractable chronic pain who are being denied adequate or no pain management. However, the search results do provide some relevant information about chronic pain in women:

1. Women are disproportionately affected by chronic pain compared to men. According to a CDC report, 21% of women reported chronic pain, compared to 19% of men. Additionally, 8.5% of women reported high-impact chronic pain (pain that frequently limits life or work activities), compared to 6.3% of men[1].

2. Women are more likely to experience chronic pain conditions compared to men. Some conditions that are more common in women include migraine, musculoskeletal pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and neuropathic pain[2].

3. Women often face challenges in having their pain recognized and taken seriously by healthcare providers. They are more likely to encounter skepticism regarding the severity or legitimacy of their symptoms due to gender biases and cultural norms[2].

4. Women are more likely to receive prescriptions for sedatives rather than pain medication for their ailments. One study showed that women who received coronary bypass surgery were only half as likely to be prescribed painkillers compared to men who had undergone the same procedure[3].

5. Women wait an average of 65 minutes before receiving an analgesic for acute abdominal pain in the ER in the United States, while men wait only 49 minutes[3].

6. 70% of people impacted by chronic pain are women, yet 80% of pain studies are conducted on male mice or human men[3].

While these statistics don’t directly answer the query about the number of women denied adequate pain management, they do suggest that there are significant disparities in how women’s pain is perceived, diagnosed, and treated in the healthcare system. This implies that many women may indeed be receiving inadequate pain management, though the exact number is not provided in the search results.

Citations:
[1] https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/for-many-women-pain-is-still-a-problem/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10937548/
[3] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/women-and-pain-disparities-in-experience-and-treatment-2017100912562
[4] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8119594/
[5] https://www.iasp-pain.org/advocacy/global-year/pain-in-women/
[6] https://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/Fulltext/2020/05201/Sex_and_Gender_Issues_in_Pain_Management.7.aspx
[7] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7215a1.htm
[8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/women-pain-gender-bias-doctors/

Filed under: General Problems