Maine Hospital Sends Out Morbid Letters To Living Patients

Patients of MaineHealth were surprised to receive letters offering condolences about their deaths.

MaineHealth Hospital Sends Out Letters to Live Patients About Their Deaths

Imagine opening a letter from your medical provider and reading that, for some reason, they think you're dead.

It happened to many MaineHealth patients recently, who then contacted the health organization to report they are very much alive.

Maine Hospital Sent Out Condolences Letters for Living Patients

MaineHealth officials say a computer glitch caused letters to be sent out to living patients, offering condolences for their death.

The letters, reportedly, went on to give options to family members about how they could settle the deceased's medical bills.

Hundreds of the letters were sent out to people who are alive and well, an error MaineHealth officials say stopped at the computer system.

Maine Hospital Condolence Letters Go Out to Patients Who Aren't Dead

A statement we received from a spokesperson for MaineHealth said:

On October 20, an error in MaineHealth's computer system for generating estate vendor letters led to it accidentally sending letters to 531 patients indicating they were deceased and providing information to their next of kin about resolving their estate.

The statement goes on to offer regrets about the letters being sent out. Apology letters were sent out to all patients who received the letters, in error.

Officials say the patients were never listed as deceased in their medical records and the issue has been resolved.