Philip H. Sechzer (September 13, 1914 – September 26, 2004) was a pioneer in

anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

and

pain management Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals pr ...

. He was the inventor of

patient-controlled analgesia Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is any method of allowing a person in pain to administer their own pain relief. The infusion is programmable by the prescriber. If it is programmed and functioning as intended, the machine is unlikely to deliver ...

(PCA), now commonly used post-operatively. Sechzer graduated from New York's

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

in 1930, and received his medical degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1938. The son of Jewish immigrants, Sechzer grew up in the hardscrabble

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

of the 1920s. He was a Major in the US Army Air Forces Medical Corps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. While his wish was to be a flight surgeon, he spent the war stationed in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, where he administered to the most acute cases returning stateside from battle. Trained in general surgery, Sechzer was fascinated by the study of pain itself and worked to advance anesthesiology. After the war, he was director of anesthesiology at

Fordham Hospital Fordham Hospital was the first public hospital in the Bronx, New York City, having opened in 1892. Prior to that time, all the New York City municipal hospitals were in Manhattan. It was located in the Fordham section of the Bronx on Valentine Av ...

from 1947 to 1955. From 1955 to 1963 he taught at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

's School of Medicine. From 1964 to 1966 he practiced at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

as part of

Michael DeBakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...

's intra-operative team, publishing much and helping to develop the heart and lung bypass machine. By the 1970s, he had established the pain treatment center at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, furthering anaesthesiology as a standalone specialty. He worked to legitimize

acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...

into standard palliative practices, and in 1985 lectured in China. After his formal retirement in 1986, he continued to work as a medical consultant and publish almost to the end of his life. He was survived by his wife of 56 years, author and psychologist Jeri A. Sechzer, as well as their three children and eight grandchildren. He is the grandfather of folksinger

Mya Byrne Mya Adriene Byrne is an American singer-songwriter whose works falls mostly in the Americana vein, a combination of folk, blues and country music. Based in New York for 13 years, Byrne currently resides in San Francisco and performs solo or wi ...

References

American anesthesiologists American pain physicians New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni 1914 births 2004 deaths United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II {{US-physician-stub