In 1999 a Farsi speaking women fell out of her bed at the Maine Medical Center, and despite her cries for help, she was ignored by staff who later claimed that they did not respond because they did not understand Farsi. The woman and another patient lodged complaints with the Office of Civil Rights, charging that the Maine Medical officials violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Office of Civil Rights, then under the direction of the Tom Perez, asked the National Health Law Program to participate in reaching a settlement in the case. An extensive settlement agreement, developed by the National Health Law Program, was imposed on Maine Medical Center and was executed on July 17, 2000.
The settlement later became the framework for the Language Access Policy for the Department of Health & Human Services and was later used by Department of Justice to develop the federal government-wide language access policy.
