The tragic passing of a young woman whose family believes could have been saved if their local emergency room was open, was raised in the House of Assembly yesterday.

The 27-year-old, who had overdosed on medication back in April, lived within sight of the Harbour Breton health centre, but had to be transported to Grand Falls-Windsor because the local emergency room was closed.

Opposition health critic Paul Dinn raised questions about the situation after the parents of Ashley Molloy brought their story to CBC.

Health Minister John Haggie, who passed his condolences on to the Molloy family, was unable to speak to the situation specifically. He did say that the issue of rural emergency room closures is not unique to this province, pointing to the six rural emergency room closures in British Columbia this past weekend.