Woman Sets Self on Fire Outside Hospital

Authorities say a woman who died over the weekend after being found burning outside a Pennsylvania hospital set herself on fire.

Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim ruled Saturday morning's death of 63-year-old Sarah Hannan at Lehigh Valley Hospital a suicide.

Officials at York Hospital say Hannan was treated at the emergency room Friday night for an undisclosed ailment and discharged but remained on the hospital grounds.

Spokesman Barry Sparks said medical students spotted her on fire by the hospital's south entrance a little more than an hour later. She was taken to the Lehigh Valley Hospital burn center, where she died.

Grim said it isn't clear how or why the woman set herself on fire. York fire crews found evidence of a blaze in a trash can nearby.

This death came a short time after a New Jersey man was identified as the man who set himself ablaze near the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Copyright The Associated Press
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