I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2868
To award a congressional gold medal to Michael Ellis DeBakey, M.D. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 24, 2003
Mr. CULBERSON
(for himself, Mr. BELL, Mr. GREEN
of Texas, Mr. 
RODRIGUEZ, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. EDWARDS, 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. TURNER 
of Texas, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. REYES, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 
Texas, Mr. FROST, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. HALL, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BAR-
TON of Texas, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. SESSIONS, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. 
THORNBERRY, Mr. CARTER, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SMITH of 
Texas, Mr. BRADY of Texas, and Mr. BONILLA) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To award a congressional gold medal to Michael Ellis 
DeBakey, M.D.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Michael Ellis DeBakey, M.D. was born on 
September 7, 1908 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to 
Shaker and Raheeja DeBakey.
(2) Dr. DeBakey, at the age of 23 and still a 
medical student, reported a major invention, a roller 
pump for blood transfusions, which later became a 
major component of the heart-lung machine used in 
the first successful open-heart operation. 
(3) Even though Dr. DeBakey had already 
achieved a national reputation as an authority on 
vascular disease and had a promising career as a 
surgeon and teacher, he volunteered for military 
service during World War II, joining the Surgeon 
General’s staff and rising to the rank of Colonel and 
Chief of the Surgical Consultants Division. 
(4) As a result of this first-hand knowledge of 
military service, Dr. DeBakey made numerous rec-
ommendations for the proper staged management of 
war wounds, which led to the development of mobile 
army surgical hospitals or MASH units and earned 
Dr. DeBakey the Legion of Merit in 1945. 
(5) After the war, Dr. DeBakey proposed the 
systematic medical follow-up of veterans and rec-
ommended the creation of specialized medical cen-
ters in different areas of the United States to treat 
wounded military personnel returning from war and 
from this recommendation evolved the Veterans Af-
fairs Medical Center System and the establishment
of the Commission on Veterans Medical Problems of 
the National Research Council. 
(6) In 1948, Dr. DeBakey joined the Baylor 
University College of Medicine, where he developed 
the first surgical residency program in the City of 
Houston, and today, guided by Dr. DeBakey’s vi-
sion, the College is one of the most respected health 
science centers in the Nation. 
(7) In 1953, Dr. DeBakey performed the first 
successful procedures to treat patients who suffered 
aneurysms leading to severe strokes, and he later de-
veloped a series of innovative surgical techniques for 
the treatment of aneurysms enabling thousands of 
lives to be saved in the years ahead. 
(8) In 1964, Dr. DeBakey triggered the most 
explosive era in modern cardiac surgery, when he 
performed the first successful coronary bypass, once 
again paving the way for surgeons world-wide to 
offer hope to thousands of patients who might other-
wise succumb to heart disease. 
(9) Two years later, Dr. DeBakey made med-
ical history again, when he was the first to success-
fully use a partial artificial heart to solve the prob-
lems of a patient who could not be weaned from a 
heart-lung machine following open-heart surgery.
(10) In 1968, Dr. DeBakey supervised the first 
successful multi-organ transplant, in which a heart, 
both kidneys, and lung were transplanted from a 
single donor into 4 separate recipients. 
(11) In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson 
appointed Dr. DeBakey to the position of Chairman 
of the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, 
Cancer and Stroke, leading to the creation of Re-
gional Medical Programs established ‘‘to encourage 
and assist in the establishment of regional coopera-
tive arrangements among medical schools, research 
institutions, and hospitals, for research and train-
ing.’’. 
(12) In the mid-1960’s, Dr. DeBakey pioneered 
the field of telemedicine with the first demonstration 
of open-heart surgery to be transmitted overseas by 
satellite. 
(13) In 1969, Dr. DeBakey was elected the 
first President of Baylor College of Medicine. 
(14) In 1969, President Lyndon B. Johnson be-
stowed on Dr. DeBakey the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom with Distinction, and in 1985, President 
Ronald Reagan conferred on him the National Medal 
of Science.
(15) Working with NASA engineers, he refined 
existing technology to create the DeBakey Ventric-
ular Assist Device, one-tenth the size of current 
versions, which may eliminate the need for heart 
transplantation in some patients. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design, to Michael Ellis DeBakey, 
M.D., in recognition of his many outstanding contribu-
tions to the Nation. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor,
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 
51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 
SALE. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 
to this Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund.
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