Palliative care is an area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients. Chronic or uncontrolled pain is considered the driving force behind the euthanasia movement. Constant pain affects at least 100 million Americans every day. Terminally ill patients often experience severe pain for many weeks or months before dying. Historically, pain management has been a lesser priority to doctors than treating a patient's illness. Concerns with addiction, side-affects, and drug laws interfere with the attempts of doctors to dispense pain medication - or with a patient’s willingness to take it. Opioids such as codeine and morphine, processed from the poppy flower, are effective remedies for cancer pain. However, except in cases with a terminal prognosis, and in light of our nation’s tragic opioid addiction epidemic, advocates say we need a safer substitute to replace opioid prescriptions to control pain. Consumer advocates say as much as anything else, economic factors seem to determine who receives relief from pain. People without health insurance as well as minorities and the elderly are forced to live with more pain than others.

Proposed Legislation: H.R.647 - Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (116th Congress)
Prospective Sponsor: Rep. Darren Soto (FL)