A federal agency has declared invalid the required medical certificates of several thousand truckers, and plans to remove from its registry of approved practitioners the two doctors responsible for them.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Friday announced its decision to issue Notices of Proposed Removal from the National Registry of Medical Examiners for failure to adequately perform USDOT physical qualification examinations in accordance with the federal regulations.
On Thursday, the FMCSA voided 15,225 medical certificates issued by two Houston chiropractors, Drs. Jenny Le and Dustin Mai.
In a statement issued Friday, FMCSA said, “While this action does not immediately impact a driver’s ability to continue operating a commercial motor vehicle, drivers who received their MECs from Dr. Le or Dr. Mai must obtain a new certificate by May 10 from one of more than 38,000 active medical examiners listed on the National Registry.
“If a driver fails to obtain a new certificate by the identified date, the driver’s respective state drivers licensing agency (SDLA) will initiate procedures to downgrade the driver’s CDL. Drivers, employers, and SDLAs can find more information about the notice of proposed removal of medical examiners and the voiding of medical certificates on FMCSA’s website.”
After identifying concerns about the high volume of physical qualification examinations conducted by Drs. Le and Mai, the FMCSA said it referred the matter to the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. That office collaborated with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the examiners’ actions.
FMCSA subsequently determined that Dr. Le and Dr. Mai failed to correctly apply required standards in determining that drivers are physically qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle.
“FMCSA’s primary mission is to enhance safety on our nation’s roadways,” said FMCSA Chief Counsel Jesse Elison. “Removing non-compliant medical examiners from the National Registry is a necessary step to maintain the integrity of the medical certification process and ensure that only qualified, properly trained professionals are certifying the physical qualifications of commercial motor vehicle drivers.”
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