Washington University School of Medicine Oral Histories
Neil Schechter Oral History
Interviewer
Bryan Sisk MD, MSCI
Files
Download Interview Transcript [PDF] (224 KB)
Summary
Neil Schechter was interviewed by Brian Sisk on June 28, 2019 for approximately one hour and 30 minutes for the Pediatric Palliative Care Oral History Project.
Scope and Content
Dr. Neil Schechter begins this interview by describing the state of the pediatric pain field during the late 1970s. As he was training, he “felt it was a bit wrong” to have the disciplines dealing with physical and emotional/mental well-being so divorced from one another, especially with unaddressed psychosocial care for pediatric patients and families during complex chronic conditions such as cancer and sickle cell. Dr. Schechter also recalls a prevalent fear in the medical community of addicting children to pain medication, which kept clinicians from treating children’s pain at all.
Dr. Schechter questioned why pain was so chronically undertreated in pediatric patients and participated in numerous academic research inquiries into how to safely prevent pain. With a small community of like minds that he fostered, Dr. Schechter ventured forth into broadly exploring and reframing the way pain was thought of by clinicians.
After Dr. Schechter began to develop a pediatric pain program at the University of Connecticut, he found that pain was often thought of as a psychological construct that was divorced from any biological implications. He worried that this commonly held theory was prolonging harm and suffering experienced by pediatric patients, while also weighing heavily on the clinicians that were referred to work with the suffering children. In several of his works, Dr. Schechter investigated common medical practices and concluded that many of them were causing unnecessary biological and psychosocial harm to children. He also challenged his clinician peers to think about why they would do something to children that they would not do to adults getting the same treatments.
Dr. Schechter discuss how his work built on the foundational work of his colleagues and peers. He recalls several instances he was able to rally similar minds to collectively publish research texts informing and advocating for medical practices to change.
In his local institutions, Dr. Schechter was successful in advocating for institutional reform to improve care that was committed to causing no further biological or psychosocial harm to kids. This also spurred him to found the nonprofit ChildKind that is committed to aiding institutions in preventing pain for pediatric patients.
Dr. Schechter then goes on to describe the various challenges he faced in his career including peer clinician resistance, divisive national sensationalism of his work, and medical models that were incomplete or lacking in understanding of holistic human well-being. He also explains that some of the bad habits of the past are continuing into the present day practice.
He concludes the interview by describing practices that could be altered to achieve a better understanding of patient health, such as reexamining why hospitals don’t prevent needlestick pain when it is within their ability to do so. Dr. Schechter also celebrates the positive advances that have been made for pediatric pain.
Biographical Information: Interviewee
Neil Schechter is the Director of the Chronic Pain Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School, and the founder, President, and CEO of ChildKind, a nonprofit advocating the prevention of all bio-psycho-social pain in children.
Dr. Schechter graduated from Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine Medical School in 1973 and has been active for nearly 50 years in the field of pediatric pain. Dr. Schechter has authored over 120 articles, completed several multimedia appearances, developed several textbooks and book chapters on pediatric pain, and serves as an editor on international and domestic committees such as the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care and the Task Force on Chronic Pain in Children of the American Pain Society.
Dr. Schechter’s research focus is now pain of children during common medial practice such as injection pain and functional pain.
Biographical Information: Interviewer
Bryan Sisk, MD, MSCI is an Assistant Professor in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and an Assistant Professor in General Medical Sciences as a member of the Bioethics Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed medical school at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He completed his clinical training at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Sisk was a clinical fellow in pediatric hematology and oncology when he initiated this Pediatric Palliative Care Oral History Project. As a trainee, Dr. Sisk had a strong interest in palliative care, the approach to the suffering of children, and the history of medicine. Prior to initiating this project, Dr. Sisk performed an in-depth review of the development of pediatric palliative care as a discipline and philosophy. This research culminated in a publication entitled, “Response to Suffering of the Seriously Ill Child: A History of Palliative Care for Children” in the journal Pediatrics. However, this historical review was limited to textbooks and publications. It lacked the personal experience of caring for these children and inspiring the development of a new clinical discipline. Inspired by David Clark’s oral history of the adult hospice movement, Dr. Sisk began to plan this pediatric oral history project.
Of note, this collection of oral histories is incomplete, and many important figures have not (yet) been interviewed. Dr. Sisk’s goal is to continue adding to this collection create a rich repository of personal insights and wisdom from leaders who changed the field of pediatrics.
Interview Date
2019-06-28
Collection Identifier
OH154-S30
Length
Approximately one hour and 30 minutes.
Restrictions
Users wishing to publish (in whole, or in part) content taken from the audio or transcript of this oral history interview must request, sign, and return a Statement of Use form to the Becker Archives. For detailed information regarding publication and use of this oral history, contact the Becker Archives (arb@wusm.wustl.edu).
Recommended Citation
Neil Schechter Oral History, OH154-S30, Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives, Washington University in St. Louis.
Disclaimer
The Becker Archives provides access to this oral history interview as a record of the past. This interview reflects the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of the interview participants, which may reflect outdated, biased, and offensive views and opinions. The Becker Archives does not endorse the views expressed in this interview, which may contain materials offensive to some users.
Notes
Access to the audio recording for this oral history may be obtained via approval of the archivists at Becker Library. Contact the archives for more information (arb@wusm.wustl.edu).