PRINTER'S NO. 2589
No. 392 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY GABIG, SEPTEMBER 16, 2003
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
SEPTEMBER 16, 2003
A RESOLUTION
1 Recognizing adhesion related disorder and supporting efforts to
2 enhance public awareness of the disorder.
3 WHEREAS, Adhesions are internal scar tissue which frequently
4 occur after surgery, trauma, chemotherapy or endometriosis and
5 grow to connect internal organs not normally connected, leading
6 to chronic pain, recurrent bowel obstruction and infertility;
7 and
8 WHEREAS, More than 300,000 people in the United States are
9 admitted to the hospital for adhesion related disorder (ARD),
10 more than for heart bypass surgery or appendectomy; and
11 WHEREAS, Persons with ARD may be unable to work and may
12 become isolated; and
13 WHEREAS, Fifty percent of patients having abdominal or pelvic
14 surgery will develop postoperative surgical adhesions; and
15 WHEREAS, The disorder is devastating to the emotional health
16 of adhesion sufferers and their families; and
17 WHEREAS, The American Adhesion Support Group has initiated
1 "ARD Awareness Day," to be observed September 25, 2003, and the
2 fourth Thursday of September each year, to focus public
3 awareness on this debilitating disease; therefore be it
4 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge all citizens
5 of this Commonwealth to keep the victims of ARD in their
6 thoughts and prayers and urge the religious community, nonprofit
7 organizations and volunteers across America to recommit
8 themselves and mobilize their resources to assist the victims of
9 ARD; and be it further
10 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives support the goals
11 and ideas of the American Adhesion Support Group and the "ARD
12 Awareness Day" observance on September 25, 2003, and commend
13 those working on behalf of ARD patients and their families
14 throughout the United States.
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