Oral history interview with Robert K. Massie, Jr., 1991

Scope and Contents

Early experiences with hemophilia; teenage years in France and differences in hemophilia treatment there as opposed to the United States; perceived problems with the U.S. health insurance system and the role of pharmaceutical companies in same; aspects of the interdisciplinary team approach to health care delivery; transition from pre-teen years and dependence on parents for health care and adulthood and independence; internship in the U.S. Senate and work on the international distribution of blood products; ambivalent personal attitudes toward hemophilia; importance of ideas versus the physical world; varying consequences as a result of different life attitudes; aspects of the "hemophilia community"; prevalence of female caregivers in a male disease; role of nurse practitioners in allaying fears and in distributing information; "reawakening" of religious faith in college and subsequent decision to attend divinity school; later doctoral work at Harvard Business School; current work as a professor combining economic and religious interests; advent of AIDS and its impact; discovery of positive HIV status and impact on marriage and decisions regarding children; questions regarding the timeliness of distribution of AIDS educational materials by the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF); "secondary epidemic" of HIV infection in female partners of people with hemophilia; thoughts on the future of hemophilia

Subjects

• AIDS (Disease)--United States--History.
• Hemophilia--Political aspects.
• Hemophilia--Social aspects.
• Hemophilia--United States--History.
• Hemophilia in children.
• Interviews.
• Massie, Robert, 1956---Interviews.
• National Hemophilia Foundation.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Resnik, Susan, 1940- interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2016