In court documents, Dale Alice Martin's family alleges that Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut mishandled her treatment on 10/4/2025. Admitted for a broken ankle sustained while working on a farm, Dale was reportedly given a lethal combination of drugs, leading to brain death. Doctors removed her from life support on 13/4/2025.
Dale's father, Lindsay Martin, recalls the phone call from the hospital informing him of his daughter's brain death. "I hung up and was in shock", he stated. Martin sought an explanation from the hospital but received no response.
Following Dale's death, her family discovered she had been admitted to a hospital facing bankruptcy and under investigation. Its limited funding suggested it might have been unable to operate properly.
"Dale had no choice in where she was taken. She was transported to the nearest hospital", Martin explained.
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Waterbury Hospital was one of three medical facilities previously owned by Prospect Medical Holdings in Connecticut. Photo: CT Insider
Dale's family has filed a lawsuit in Waterbury Superior Court against Waterbury Hospital, the treating doctors and nurses, the Connecticut Spine and Disc Institute, and Prospect Medical Holdings, the hospital's former owner. The family asserts Dale's death "stemmed from Waterbury Hospital's inadequate care and monitoring".
The lawsuit states that an autopsy determined Dale died of cardiac arrest after receiving multiple pain medications.
Within 14 hours of her admission, medical staff administered such a large dose of pain medication that Dale stopped breathing and subsequently died, the lawsuit alleges. During this period, no one checked on her condition. The drugs, which affected her breathing, also caused deep sedation. She was unable to call for help when she suffocated. By 7:00 on 10/4/2025, a nurse checked on Dale, but it was too late; her heart had already stopped.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) concluded that "the medical facility failed to ensure the doctor's telephonic medication orders were fully and completely communicated, preventing accidental duplication of opioid pain medications".
The CMS report further stated that the treating doctor "admitted he should have given specific and direct orders to stop intravenous morphine and switch to Dilaudid".
According to the report, Waterbury Hospital had faced years of staffing shortages, outdated equipment, and financial difficulties under Prospect Medical Holdings, a California-based private equity firm. Prospect filed for bankruptcy in 1/2025.
By Tue Anh (via Hartford Courant, Nypost)
