ASA August 2003 Newsletter

On June 12, 2003, Franklin B. McKechnie, M.D., died at the age of 83. A past ASA President, Dr. McKechnie was another of the second generation of American anesthesiologists who built upon the framework of the pioneering work of Ralph M. Waters, M.D., John S. Lundy, M.D., Paul M. Wood, M.D., and many others and created the “modern” practice of anesthesiology.

Franklin B. McKechnie, M.D., as ASA President in 1986.

Dr. McKechnie’s area of special expertise was the recovery room, a novel new concept when he began his anesthesiology residency in 1949 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He helped form both the Florida Recovery Room Association and the American Society of Post Anesthesia (now PeriAnesthesia) Nurses (ASPAN), which stemmed from a tragic case in Florida where a young child was left severely cerebrally impaired after a postanesthesia care nurse failed to recognize that the patient was no longer breathing. Issues surrounding the immediate postoperative care of anesthestized patients were Dr. McKechnie’s lifelong interest.

Franklin B. McKechnie was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 21, 1919. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1942 and graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1945. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 through 1948 and returned to civilian life and anesthesiology residency at Indiana University. Dr. McKechnie stayed on staff at the university as an instructor in pediatric anesthesiology for a year and left to become assistant professor of anesthesia and pharmacology at the Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York. Four years later, he moved south to Miami, Florida, and was promoted to associate professor, a rank he maintained when he moved two years later to the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. In 1960, Dr. McKechnie entered the private practice of anesthesiology in Winter Park, Florida, from which he retired some 30 years later.

Dr. McKechnie served many anesthesiology organizations well. In addition to helping establish ASPAN, he was heavily involved in the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists, culminating in his presidency in 1968-69. A registered parliamentarian, he was Vice-Speaker of the ASA House of Delegates from 1974-78 and Speaker from 1979-83. Dr. McKechnie served as ASA President-Elect in 1985 and President in 1986. After completing his term as ASA President, he remained involved in organized medicine, serving as President of the Orange County Medical Society. Dr. McKechnie was a trustee of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology for 12 years, during which time he was elected Secretary-Treasurer.

A memorial service was held at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Winter Park, Florida, on June 21, 2003. Dr. McKechnie is survived by his wife Eleanor, three children, six grandchildren, three stepchildren, 11 step grandchildren and one step great-grandchild. Dr. Franklin McKechnie’s guiding spirit and parliamentary expertise will be greatly missed.

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