The Office of Inspector General’s Aug. 10 audit of Maine’s medical records and incident reports from January 2013 to June 2015 for 2,640 adult Medicaid beneficiaries with mental disabilities revealed that DHHS failed to investigate the deaths of 133 Mainers in the program. These auditors also discovered that nine of these deaths were unexplained, suspicious, or untimely, but not enough information about the other deaths to determine the category they fit into.

Gov. Paul LePage and former DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew have stated time and time again that they look out for Maine’s most vulnerable citizens. Obviously, this is not true; as we all know, they always pass the buck, which in this case they passed to Govs. John Baldacci and Angus King. However, Mayhew was the commissioner and LePage was her boss during this period of time, so they are totally responsible for everything in the Aug. 10 report.

Our Legislature should require an official investigation of all 133 deaths because someone needs to look out for Maine’s most vulnerable citizens. No one in the LePage administration has done anything except make excuses and cut funding, and these citizens and their families deserve answers to their questions.

David H. Crockett

Augusta


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