Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Pitt season 1, episode 14.Dr. McKay (Fiona Dourif) wears an ankle monitor in character in The Pitt has their own baggage that they bring into the emergency room, and The Pitt has slowly revealed more about each doctor. For example, Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) has a history of drug misuse, while Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) was dealing with a miscarriage throughout her shift. In Dr. McKay's case, she had to wear an ankle monitor, and it ended up getting her arrested. The Pitt, however, didn't fully explain where the ankle monitor came from.

In The Pitt episode 5, McKay revealed to one of her patients that she had a history of drug misuse. As she explained, her addiction even cost her custody of her son, Harrison. McKay also has a less-than-cordial relationship with her ex-husband, Chad (Rob Heaps), who went to the hospital after a skateboarding accident. Those elements of Dr. McKay's backstory were just setup for the real reason she had an ankle monitor, however. They're also just the build-up to McKay's arrest in The Pitt episode 14.

McKay's Ankle Monitor Is Due To A Confrontation With Her Ex-Husband's Girlfriend, Chloe

McKay & Chloe Got In A Fight At Some Point, & McKay's History Of Drug Misuse Led To Her Being Put On Probation

In standard fashion, The Pitt doesn't outright explain why Dr. McKay wears an ankle monitor. When McKay's ex-husband, Chad, was in the hospital, his new partner, Chloe (Jonetta Kaiser), alluded to the fact that she had fought with McKay and had a restraining order against her. Chloe obviously doesn't have an ankle monitor, so it seems that McKay was given a harsher punishment for the fight that included an ankle monitor as part of her parole. That's likely due to the fact that McKay has a history of substance misuse, which also likely means she had a criminal record before the fight.

Why McKay Tampered With Her Ankle Monitor Despite It Being Against Her Probation

The Ankle Monitor's Beeping Distracted The ER During The Pittfest Shooting Aftermath, So McKay "Turned It Off"

Dr. McKay's ankle monitor was part of her parole, and she knew that tampering with it would count as a parole violation. In spite of that knowledge, she took an IO drill to her monitor, which resulted in McKay being arrested in The Pitt episode 14. Misguided though it was, McKay had a very good reason to tamper with her ankle monitor: it was beeping incessantly. McKay's ankle monitor sometimes malfunctioned and thought she was somewhere else when she was supposed to be at work. When it did so, it produced a loud siren sound that wouldn't stop until a technician could where McKay was.

When McKay's ankle monitor malfunctioned and began beeping again, it was while Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center was inundated with victims of the Pittfest mass shooting. McKay's ankle monitor was causing a distraction for herself and all the other doctors in the ER, so she silenced it quickly so she could return to work. There were lives at stake, and McKay wasn't going to spend several minutes talking to the monitoring company while people bled to death that she could have helped. Unfortunately, that is a parole violation, and Dr. McKay is likely going to jail in The Pitt.