John McPhee was greatly admired by all who came into contact with him from medical students to colleagues in Medicine and Law to staff of Hunter New England Health.

John was a lecturer in the School of Medicine and Public Health for many years. To medical students he was as a committed teacher and friend. One example of his relationship with medical students was when he and Ian Kerridge worked with the final year students of 2000 and 2001 to write their own version of the Hippocratic Oath. It is recited each year during the Year 5 celebration week.

He made a remarkable contribution to health law in the Newcastle medical program, to clinical ethics in the Hunter region and to academic clinical ethics and health law nationally. His publications with Ian Kerridge and Michael Lowe are standard references for the discipline of clinical ethics and health law.

John has been one of the central figures in the Clinical Unit in Ethics and Health Law, a collaboration of the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health.

John was also heavily involved in the Centre for Values, Ethics and Law in Medicine of the University of Sydney, and was highly respected throughout the Australian health law and ethics community.