John McCord, DPM: Getting The Last Word In Podiatry Today

John McCord, DPM, had been with Podiatry Today even longer than I have. For over 14 years, his Forum column had been the last word of the magazine, providing some hard-won wisdom and humor from his 34 years of practice and reflections during his retirement.

Dr. McCord died in October. We will certainly hear the silence and miss him. He always managed to strike a chord with the readership and with Jeff Hall and me as we many times laughed out loud when reading his contributions. He barely needed any editing. What you read on the page was pure Dr. McCord. Looking back on his work, a few columns from the past come to mind.

Dr. McCord always managed to project his concern for the well-being of his patients, especially those who were not well off. In a May 2013 column, he recalled how a group of devout doctors would not care for his patient since she had an overdue balance (https://tinyurl.com/k97b39v ). He challenged the office manager, asking, “Ma’am, if Jesus was the office manager, would he have sent the patient away?” The practice relented and saw the patient.

“I have missed this part of practice,” he wrote. “It was a pleasure to care for the poor. They were grateful and made my life as a doctor more meaningful. They rarely barked that they wanted a second opinion. Oftentimes, they were simply in transition and when they found work and had insurance, they remained loyal patients with added gratitude for the times I helped them when things were rough.”

His sense of humor was always on display. Remembering when he observed a podiatric surgery very early in his career, Dr. McCord recalled feeling faint amidst “a combination of cigarette smoke, iodine, alcohol and (his) own sweat” in the OR. “I awoke suddenly with the nurse placing a cold washcloth on my forehead. The doctor chuckled as he walked past me. The patient yelled, ‘How’s your other patient, doc?’”

Outside his practice, Dr. McCord was also an avid pilot and once took a man with a terminal diagnosis flying with him (https://tinyurl.com/pw8qk47 ). “I let him hold the control yoke as I pushed the throttle full. A smile formed on his pale face as the plane lifted from the runway. We climbed to 5,000 feet and flew to the west toward the Pacific Ocean to watch the sunset.”

After a long day of practice, Dr. McCord enjoyed a good meal. In 2005, he shared his recipe for salmon marinated in single malt scotch and grilled on cedar (https://tinyurl.com/p8alblq ). More important than that recipe, however, was his recipe for being a husband and father: “I follow a recipe for being a husband. I always attempt to make my wife of 36 years feel as important to me as she was when I fell in love with her during our senior year of high school … My three adult children still like to call Dad and tell him about their dreams and their challenges.”

Reflecting in October 2012 on why he really became a podiatrist, Dr. McCord remembered reading the book My Patients Were Zulus and being fascinated by the author, who had done missionary medical work in Africa (https://tinyurl.com/kkleupo ). “I learned to be humble and focus on my patient’s needs rather than my own.”

When asked why he became a podiatrist, Dr. McCord recalled how he had a degree in public health and had been working as a restaurant inspector when he decided to enter podiatry school (https://tinyurl.com/lhgvqw3 ). In one of his last Forum columns, he related how he and his doctor friend were at a diner and a couple at another table picked up his check to thank them for being good doctors.

“Whenever you are having a difficult time in your podiatry practice, think about how grateful your patients are to you for your skills and care,” he wrote. “This has made me feel like the richest old man in the world. I look back on the decision I made sitting at that table at age 22 and thank whatever muse or angel that guided me to podiatry.”

A few months ago, Dr. McCord emailed me and told me he would be starting as a consultant for a creative writing program at a small college. He asked for any suggestions about writing I could provide. I emailed him a few suggestions but there wasn’t much I could tell him that he didn’t know. He already had the writing thing down pat.