STARFLEET HISTORICAL DATABASE FILE: McCoy, Leonard
Mid-level Biography Brief Mode
Final Rank: Admiral, retired
Full Name: Leonard Horatio McCoy, M.D.
Year of birth: 2227
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. David McCoy
Education: University of Mississippi, 2245-49; medical school, 2249-53
Marital status: Divorced
Children: A daughter, Joanna
Quarters: Original Enterprise: 3F 127
Starfleet Career Summary
2366 -- As lieutenant commander, named chief medical officer under Capt.
James T. Kirk
2370 -- Retires to private medical practice
2371 -- Returns to duty under Starfleet reactivation clause, promoted to
commander as chief medical officer on refit U.S.S. Enterprise for V'Ger
mission
2285 -- As Academy medical faculty and training instructor, forced into
Genesis mission; detained over leaks regarding secret Genesis Project
2286 -- Charged but cleared with shipmates in theft of U.S.S. Enterprise
2287 -- Returns to active Enterprise service under Kirk
2293 -- Participated in Khitomer peace mission after liberation from Klingon
Rura Penthe prison
2364 -- As retired admiral, gave inspection tour of Galaxy-class U.S.S.
Enterprise upon departure
Nicknamed 'Bones' by his longtime friend and commander, Captain James T.
Kirk, McCoy replaced Mark Piper as chief medical officer in 2266 on the
original five-year mission but clearly became the most renowned. By that first
year he had already won the commendations of Legion of Honor, awards of
valor, and was decorated by Starfleet Surgeons.
His temperament was sometimes argumentative, a cynic's outer crustiness
masking deep caring beneath the surface. His "old South" roots led to the
old-time physician manner of doctoring, with a Southern accent that was most
apparent when under stress. He distrusts transporter technology and travels by
shuttlecraft whenever possible.
McCoy was married once and later divorced, a relationship never discussed
except for his one daughter, Joanna, who later graduated from nursing school.
In the era before ship's counselors, McCoy played his role as psychologist
expertly to the hilt - especially for the ship's two senior officers. As such an
emotional watchdog he was not afraid to take on his captain, but it was his
running battle of wits with Spock which became legendary. Spock showed his
true feelings, though, as when inviting McCoy down to Vulcan for his "wedding"
and in storing his katra with him before a known suicidal saving of their ship
before the Genesis detonation.
McCoy contracted the always-fatal xenopolycythemia and retired from Starfleet
in 2369 to spend his remaining days on the asteroid ship, Yonada, and that
world's high priestess, Natira - whom he soon married. By exploring Yonada's
computers, Spock found a cure for xenopolycythemiaand McCoy left Natira to
return to the service. Earlier, McCoy had been infected with the strange 'aging'
virus that infected the Gamma Hydra IV landing party.
After the U.S.S. Enterprise's triumphant return from its five-year mission,
McCoy retired from Starfleet, grew a beard and went into virtual seclusion with
a rural practice, only to be forced back to duty by Kirk and Admiral Nogura
when V'Ger threatened Earth in 2371. After that he continued through the
years of renewed Enterprise service with Kirk until at least the Khitomer peace
talks of 2293, having survived imprisonment with him on trumped-up charges at
the Rura Penthe mining prison when he could not revive assassinated Klingon
Chancellor Gorkon. Spock's deposit of his katra in 2385 had nearly driven him
crazy and landed him in Starfleet detention until the refusion took place,
whereupon he delighted in the Vulcan's reeducation process.
As a retired admiral he remained active in his later years, serving at the age of
137 and shuttling aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in 2364 in his role of
inspecting medical facilities on new starships.
McCoy was an active practitioner well before his Starfleet days, of course. In
2253, some 12 years before he signed aboard with Kirk, he had developed a
neural grafting procedure employing the creation of axonal pathways between
the graft and a subject basal ganglia that was still the practice over a century
later. He had also been stationed on Capella for a few months and knew the
intricate customs of the Ten Tribes there.