Report: Maine health system apologizes for patient 'Wall of Shame' in hospital

A Maine health system issued an apology Thursday after the state's human rights commission said hospital employees created a "Wall of Shame" inside a cabinet containing pictures of patients with disabilities.

The Bangor Daily News reports investigators confirmed the existence of a wall created by employees at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, including portions of patient medical records and "information detailing patients’ sexual activity, genital dysfunction, bowel movements, bodily odors, and other personal maladies.”

The wall was reported to the commission by an employee, who also said she suspected employees of inappropriately accessing her personal medical records from when she was a patient at the hospital, the newspaper reported.

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“We deeply regret that this situation occurred,” Stephen Grubbs, president and CEO of Covenant Health, and Steven Jorgenson, president of St. Mary’s Health System, said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News. “[W]e sincerely apologize for the impact this situation has had on Ms. McCann.”

St. Mary's officials told CNN in a statement they are "fully committed to ensuring this doesn't happen again."

The medical center is part of Massachusetts-based Catholic heath system Covenant Health. The $670 million health system has three acute care hospitals as well as long- and short-term skilled nursing, short stay rehabilitation, assisted living communities and community-based organizations in Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.