[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 144 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H11084-H11085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE MACKAY FAMILY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H11085]]

  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Yesterday I came on the floor, and I introduced 
this body to the Mackay family, a doctor of 30 years, a certified 
orthopedic surgeon in our community. Dr. Mackay, as has been alleged by 
the Drug Enforcement Administration, has been giving improper 
prescriptions to patients in a way that has caused addiction within our 
community.
  Now, the investigation had taken apparently about a year, starting in 
2007; but I wanted to pick up the story of this family on June 6 of 
2008.
  It was on that day that a hard knock came on the door of Dr. Mackay's 
home. He said it was so loud he thought that had he not answered the 
door quickly they would have broken the door in, but he did answer the 
door.
  In a rush, 20 agents in full riot gear and armed, they handcuffed Dr. 
Mackay, took him to the front room, sat him on a chair, and then stuck 
a gun in his stomach. His wife was also escorted into the front room 
and held at gunpoint for 4 hours. DEA did not have a search warrant at 
this time. They said one was coming as they were going through his 
office at the same time. And sure enough, after the 4-hour ransacking 
of his home, they finally did show Dr. Mackay and his wife the one-page 
search warrant.
  I suppose he could have objected earlier to that, but usually when a 
gun is pointed at your stomach, you have a tendency not to be too 
talkative in those situations.
  What they did in his office is take almost two-thirds of his files, 
hundreds of patients' files. In his personal home, they confiscated all 
of his personal records, his tax records, his children's personal 
records. They downloaded his computer, his cell phones; they took his 
textbooks and medical journals. They also confiscated his savings and 
checking account and put a hold on his retirement fund. They also took 
both his car and his truck.
  They did not at any of this time charge him with any crime. They 
didn't arrest him for anything. In fact, if the issue is prescribing 
improperly prescription drugs, they did not take away his license to be 
a doctor. He could still function as a doctor, I suppose, if he could 
walk to work. And he did. The State of Utah never did go after his 
particular license.
  However, with all of his money confiscated, he is relegated to a 
position of no money for food, which is okay because he has no vehicles 
to drive to the store if he needed to. For several months his family 
survived on the food storage that they had put away as a family for an 
emergency situation. And during this time, once again, there have been 
no charges, no arrests; but his property has been confiscated.
  He was finally able to get enough money together to hire an attorney; 
and in November of 2008, 5 months after the initial raid, he went to 
court. And the courts did demand that some of his property be returned 
to him. He was given his pension fund back. He was allowed his car but 
not his truck, nor was he allowed access to his personal savings 
account or to his personal checking account. Nor was he allowed access 
to his files or to his textbooks. I have a hard time wondering why DEA, 
the Drug Enforcement Administration, wants his textbooks and his truck; 
but they kept them.
  Everything he has done up until this time is in trying to meagerly 
pay off defense bills that he is now accumulating to try and clear his 
name.
  Now, I don't want to give an opinion as to the element of what may or 
may not have been the legal situation here. I can say from my 
understanding of this family and the situation that is involved that I 
do not find Dr. Mackay or his family to be a threat to our community. 
In fact, if one looks at the sworn statements from almost all of the 
physicians in our area, they do not find Dr. Mackay a threat to our 
community. If I read the letters to the editor in our local paper, the 
constituents' mail that I have read, no one still considers his family 
a threat to the community.
  Nevertheless, this family, since June of 2008, has been terrorized, a 
profession has been destroyed, a reputation has been besmirched, 
property has been confiscated; and still there are no charges, there 
are no arrests.
  Justice, as I always understood it, is supposed to work in a way in 
which the bad guys are accused and charged and then go before a judge 
and a jury of their peers. That has not been the situation.
  And with that, Madam Speaker, I appreciate the time here. And what I 
would like to do is once again come in for installment number three, 
because this story of the Mackay story is not over, and tell you what 
has still continued to happen to this family in contradiction of what 
could be or should be the rule of law.

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