The children of a 68-year-old Alberta Hospital patient have filed a lawsuit against Alberta Health Services and the doctor who treated their mother, for the death of the elderly woman.
The case stems from the disappearance of Lorraine Adolph in December of 2008, after she stepped outside the facility for a cigarette, but never returned.
A search of the hospital grounds was conducted – but her body was found a week later in a snow bank just steps from the door.
Adolph's children are suing Alberta Health Services and her doctor, Dr. Robert Granger for her death – the lawsuit is for $45,000 each.
"I think they want some sense that justice is being done, that a wrong will be made right to some extent," Adolph family lawyer Allan Garber said. "Although the amount of money, you can never, never compensate for the loss of a mother."
Dr. Granger has filed a statement of defence, in it, he states:
If the patient suffered injury, which is denied, she did so as a result of her own negligence.
The lawyer representing the family said the argument doesn't make sense.
"She thought she [smelled] dead bodies in her apartment," Garber said.
"She was there [in Alberta Hospital] under mental health certificates, so no, I think it's a stretch to say that she was responsible for her own death,
"[Adolph] was not responsible, that's why she was there."
Alberta Health Services has also filed a statement of defense which states in part:
The defendant hospital provided Lorraine Adolph with the necessary hospital and nursing care as instructed.
None of the claims have been proven in court.
With files from Kim Taylor
