Scott, Warren ask IG to investigate teen medical lift proposal

House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today asked the Labor Department Inspector General to investigate a Trump administration proposal that would allow teenagers to operate patient medical lifts unsupervised.

In a letter, Scott, Warren and three other lawmakers asked the IG to determine whether DOL “deviated from agency regulatory and data quality requirements“ by relying on a 2012 SurveyMonkey poll conducted by the Massachusetts health department with fewer than two dozen respondents.

The proposal would repeal an Obama-era rule that largely bars 16- and 17-year-olds from independently operating patient lifting devices in nursing homes and hospitals. DOL has said the proposal would stimulate job creation for high school students as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to scrap regulations. Comments were due Dec. 11.

The SurveyMonkey poll in question was not entered into the public docket, the Democrats noted, though the complete results were published by POLITICO in November. The Democrats argue that DOL’s failure to provide complete results in the public record runs afoul of an Obama-era executive order that requires agencies to disclose scientific studies and technical findings.

They also said that the SurveyMonkey poll may violate data quality requirements.

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