Philip H. Sechzer

Philip H. Sechzer (September 13, 1914 – September 26, 2004) was a pioneer in anesthesiology and pain management. He was the inventor of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), now commonly used post-operatively. Sechzer graduated from New York's Stuyvesant High School in 1930, and received his medical degree from New York University in 1938.

By the 1970s, he had established the pain treatment center at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, furthering anesthesiology as a standalone specialty. He worked to legitimize acupuncture 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 (d. 2011), as well as their three children and eight grandchildren.

Sechzer was a regular customer at Economy Candy, a historic candy shoppe on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Sechzer is the grandfather of folksinger Mya Byrne.