Mother of woman found frozen days after leaving Winnipeg hospital wants answers

• Finding meth addicts wandering in bitter cold becoming common for Salvation Army warming van staff

• 'Don't forget about us': Christmas done but shelters still urgently need gifts of mitts, gloves

Policewould not confirm the identity of the deceased, but family members have told CBCNewsit was Windy Sinclair, a mother of four children between ages four and 11.

Police saidthe death is not being investigated as a homicide, but weren't able to determine the cause.

The temperature on Thursday morning was 28 C, and there was an extreme cold warning for much of last week and into the weekend.

Eleanor Sinclair said her daughter was taken to Seven Oaks by ambulance after Windy called 911 herself whilehigh on crystal meth.

"[The paramedics] were talking to her, asking her questions half the time she was incoherent, like you couldn'treally tell what she was saying," she said.

Sinclair said her daughter struggled with drug addiction for years and she didn'tthink she had slept at all the night before.

She said Windy was taken to hospital with only a T-shirt, leggings, running shoes and a winter coatand that paramedics told her that Windy would be sent home from hospital in a cab when she was released.

When Eleanor called the hospital the next day, she saidshe was told by staff that her daughter was treated and released, but she never returned home.

After contacting her daughter'sfriends and other hospitals, Eleanor Sinclair saidshe called Seven Oaks again on Dec. 27. At that timeshe wastold that Windy had been treated but left on her own, and that hospital staff didn't know where she went.

"'We don't keep tabs on people that leave the hospital,'that's exactly what they told me," said Sinclair.

She said she opened a missing persons report with police that day, and contacted the Winnipeg Bear Clan to help search for her missing daughter.

Police came to the family's North End home onDec.29 to tell the family Windy had been found dead.

"The police showed up and they came to inform me that she was found and she froze," said her mother.

• Deep freeze digs claws into most of Manitoba and will stay through weekend

Shesaid she's upset and wants to know why her daughter was allowed to leave the hospital when she was clearly intoxicated.

"I'm very, very, angry right now ... why did they leave her alone in that room?" she said.

"When she was clearly impaired, she was incoherent, she was hallucinating, she was talking to herself. You wouldn't leave anybody like that, you would make sure that they are kept an eye on for their own safety as well as the safety of others."

WRHA investigating

In a written statement to CBC News, the WRHA said it isinvestigating and hopesto meet with the family in the near future to discuss details of Windy Sinclair's care.

"We are saddened to hear about the loss this family has experienced and have reached out to them directly to share our condolences," Ral Cloutier, interim president and CEO of the WRHA, said in the statement.

"While we are in the initial stages of reviewing this case, we do know that Ms. Sinclair was brought to Seven Oaks General Hospital in the evening of Dec.25. She was seen in the Emergency Department and was in the process of receiving treatment.

"When staff returned to her treatment area to share results of some testing, Ms. Sinclair had taken her belongings and left the building. Staff searched the area for her, but were unable to locate her. Calls to the number on Ms. Sinclair's file were unanswered."

• Shelters, CAA Manitoba see usage spike as temperatures plunge below -30 C

Eleanor Sinclair wants to know why hospital staff didn't call the family when her daughter left, and said she had given the paramedics her phone number.

She also wants to know why police weren't contacted.

"Why didn't they use the police to find her, she had an arrest warrant and [was] in violation [of her parole, she was high on drugs and that's one of her conditions, that she's not high," she said.

Eleanor Sinclair is still awaitingautopsy results to find out exactly how her daughter died. She plans to meet with the WRHA on Thursday to find out more about when and how her daughter left the hospital.

She said she still doesn't know how to tell one of her youngest grandchildren that their mom isn't coming home.

"I never expected this outcome you know, I still can't really accept it because I haven't seen her."