03/13/2024    Michael A Uro, DPM

A Short History of Podiatric Discontent and Frustration ( Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD)

Thank you Dr. Tomczak for the gracious compliment.
The feeling is mutual. Once again, I agree with
your assessment of our profession. While I do not
possess your eloquence in the written word, I will
in my own humble way attempt to further express my
feelings. Your assumption as to why I would not
recommend podiatry to a college student is correct.
I do not like the direction in which the profession
is going.

Not everyone who enters medical school wants to be
a surgeon. Not all have the abilities to become a
surgeon. Does this make them any less of a
physician? Of course not. Our patients need and
deserve the experience of all the specialties and
subspecialties. It takes many spokes to make a
wheel.

Our chosen profession is no different. Not every
candidate to podiatry school is cut out to be a
surgeon. That’s not a slight but a truism. How many
of us have been in the unfortunate position of
having to take the surgical knife away from a
resident or new surgeon being proctored because of
the obvious harm that was about to ensue? Better
that these individuals are not allowed to graduate
from residency than to unleash them on society. The
same individuals may on the other hand be
outstanding diagnosticians. So be it. They are just
as much a podiatrist and credit to our profession
PERIOD.

In my first years of practice I had a patient by
the name of Angus McKinnon, MD. He was a 95 year
old retired general practitioner who had delivered
1/3 of the population of the town of Placerville at
the time. I loved my visits with him so much that I
had my staff schedule him at the end of my day just
so that I could sit and visit with him. He
experienced times when patients could not afford
his fees. He would treat them regardless. Some
would later come by with a bushel of apples or a
chicken as payment. Others would come back a year
or two later with cash when they were flush. One of
my mentors Al Pearlstein, DPM once said to me in
surgery “This profession will provide you with a
good living but don’t count on it to make you
wealthy. For that make your money work for you”.
There is wealth and there is wealth.

The bottom line is that we are healers. Our
patients come to us for relief of their discomfort.
No matter how minor i.e. a corn or callus or how
major i.e. a gangrenous foot requiring amputation.
The simplest of treatments and some would say a
treatment that is beneath them, such as debriding a
painful dystrophic nail can provide a 90 year old
with relief that enables them to continue their
daily walks in comfort. But wait there’s more!
Walking can increase their cognitive skills,
circulation, lung capacity, increase bone density
and help them to enjoy life and stay in the game.
Patients are grateful for this care as they cannot
get it elsewhere DOCTOR!

Well as I stated in my first post, it has been a
good ride! Now it’s up to the next generation to
determine the fate of our profession. It is in your
hands. Make good choices.

Michael A Uro, DPM, Sacramento, CA

There are no more messages in this thread.