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Family of woman who froze to death outside Alta. hospital want review

EDMONTON - Family members of a 68-year-old woman who was found frozen to death outside Alberta Hospital are gathering signatures for a petition demanding an investigation.

Lorraine Julia Adolph's family wants the Alberta Fatality Review board to look into her death.

The woman, who suffered from schizophrenia, disappeared from the geriatric unit of the Alberta Hospital on Dec. 4 after she went outside to go have a cigarette.

Her frozen body was found a week later just 400 metres away from the hospital.

On Saturday morning, her family scattered her ashes at a farm west of Edmonton to provide some sort of closure to a death they say could have been prevented.

Her son, Barry Adolph, says his mother never should have been let out unattended.

"If she's in a secure hospital and has to be let out with a key and in with a key why wasn't there somebody there watching her?"

So far the family has gathered 500 signatures on its petition.

"They left her unsupervised and we as a family feel that's simply negligence; it's carelessness," said Adolph's sister, Esther Gehlert.

Justice Minister Allison Redford says the case is currently before the Fatality Review Board, which will make a recommendation as to whether the inquiry will go forward.

"I can't give you specific detail," said Redford. "It'll be up to the board to determine whether that happens."

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