Released Aug. 10, the federal Office of Inspector General 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 the Maine Department of Health and Human Services failed to investigate the deaths of 133 Mainers in the program.

The auditors also discovered that nine of these deaths were unexplained, suspicious or untimely; there was not enough information about 32 other deaths to determine which of these categories they fit into.

Gov. LePage and 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 DHHS commissioner and LePage was her boss during the period covered by the federal audit, 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