Houlton Regional Hospital is negotiating with a former Augusta surgeon who has been the subject of three in-depth investigations, spanning several years, for allegedly bullying staff and sexually harassing women.
Dr. Ian Reight, who formerly led the medical staff at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, was investigated by the Maine Human Rights Commission, the Maine Board of Licensing in Medicine and the Bangor Daily News.
While he was cleared on most counts, previous BDN interviews with former colleagues indicated he was part of a pervasive toxic culture at the Augusta hospital.
Following highly publicized hearings in 2024, Reight said he was leaving MaineGeneral and did not plan to practice again in Maine. The press coverage of his conduct and the complaints against him “has done a pretty good job at making sure I can’t do that,” the BDN reported at the time. Now, it appears he has changed his mind and may soon be working in Houlton.
Hospital officials did not address Reight’s past directly. Instead they said that the hospital’s medical staff office works in partnership with the hospital’s credentials committee, Medical Executive Committee, and Board of Directors to make a final provider appointment.
“Today we are reaffirming to our community our ongoing commitment to ensuring that every physician, advanced practice provider, and licensed independent practitioner who cares for patients at Houlton Regional Hospital is fully qualified, verified, and appropriately privileged for the care they deliver,” hospital spokeswoman Nichole Jandreau said.
Reight did not respond to a request for comment.
Reight quickly rose to lead the medical staff at MaineGeneral, despite allegations and complaints by multiple female physicians who described his behavior as demeaning and sexually inappropriate.
Reight was one of three surgeons cited in a Maine Human Rights Commission complaint that detailed a demoralizing workplace environment. At the time, the BDN interviewed more than a dozen hospital staffers who described a toxic culture of sex discrimination and patient care complaints tied to Reight and two other male surgeons.
Subsequently, Reight stepped down as president of the medical staff and the hospital’s board of directors in November 2022.
The Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine investigated him more recently following 16 complaints filed with the governing body. Reight denied the allegations against him in the 2024 hearing. The board cleared him in 2025 of 15 of the 16 counts, saying he violated one by a “preponderance of evidence.”
Reight implied oral sex prowess in 2016 while talking to a nurse who was also his cancer patient, the board said, adding his “aberrant” behavior was unethical and interfered with the delivery of care.
During the licensing board hearings, a social worker testified that she saw Reight crawl on the floor up to a nurse until he was inches from her groin and said, “I can hold my breath for 40 seconds.”
Reight denied crawling on the floor and told the licensing board that he thought the nurse was a friend who enjoyed “salty” banter. The comment was not meant to upset the nurse, Reight said at the time.
Reight’s behavior “impacted other providers who overhead the interaction and caused the nurse to whom he was speaking to seek another provider,” the board said, imposing a one-year probation against his medical license. His probationary period ended in late June.
Reight was also ordered to attend monthly sessions with a professional mentor who had to file quarterly reports to the board.
The licensing board dismissed four counts of misconduct related to patient care, and also voted 5-2 that Reight had not violated a standard of professional care by berating or intimidating staff. They voted 6-1 that he did not engage in fraud, deceit or misrepresentation by failing to disclose illicit marijuana use on his application to renew his medical license, according to meeting minutes.
Houlton Regional Hospital’s review of providers does not end at appointment, officials said. Physician performance monitoring is ongoing and adheres to standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Maine regulations.
“Our patients and their families place enormous trust in us and we take that seriously,” Jandreau said. “Our credentialing and privileging standards are a core part of how we keep patients safe, and we hold ourselves accountable to meeting them every day.”
