Report: Patients Need Outdoor Smoking Area
EDMONTON, Alberta — A report on the death of a patient who froze to death after going missing in December 2008 found that Alberta Hospital needs better plans for searching for missing patients and an outdoor area where patients can safely smoke.
The outdoor area would allow patients who do not otherwise receive ground privileges to smoke cigarettes, the Edmonton Journal reports. This could have prevented the death of Lorraine Adolph, a patient with paranoid schizophrenia, who wandered away from the hospital during her 15-minute smoke break.
The fatality report, written by Provincial Court Judge Ferne LeReverend, also suggested that one employee on each shift be appointed as a search leader to coordinate search crews and talk with police if a patient goes missing.
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