Health · Healthcare & Policy · 15 hrs ago
Family sues after 21-year-old dies following ankle fracture treatment
Dale Alice Martin, a 21-year-old from Bethlehem, Connecticut, died at Waterbury Hospital on April 10, 2025.
She had been admitted with a broken ankle after an accident while doing farm work.
Her family’s lawsuit alleges she received excessive amounts of several painkillers, which impaired her breathing and left her too sedated to call for help.
The lawsuit says no one checked on her for 14 hours, and that an nurse found her only after her heart had stopped.
An autopsy attributed her death to cardiac arrest after she received several painkillers.
At the time, the hospital was managed by Prospect Medical Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 and faced investigations over resources and staffing, according to the accounts.
The family is suing the hospital; it is now run by Hartford HealthCare, which declined to comment.
Dale Alice Martin, 21, died after receiving multiple painkillers while being treated for an ankle fracture at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut.
Her family has sued the hospital, alleging excessive medication and a failure to monitor her for 14 hours.
The family’s complaint says the medication impaired Martin’s breathing and left her too sedated to call for help.
An autopsy attributed her death to cardiac arrest after she received several painkillers.
The family’s lawyer has also alleged that hospital staffing cuts and inadequate training may have contributed to the death.
- Who
- Dale Alice Martin, a 21-year-old woman, and her family.
- What
- Her family sued the hospital, alleging serious care failures after she received excessive painkillers and died.
- When
- April 10, 2025. The family’s lawsuit was reported in October 2026.
- Where
- Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut, United States.
- Why
- The family alleges that excessive medication and a failure to monitor Martin led to her death.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Prospect Medical Holdings, which managed the hospital at the time, filed for bankruptcy.
Martin was admitted to Waterbury Hospital after fracturing her ankle and received multiple painkillers.
A nurse came to check on Martin, but her heart had stopped beating.
News reports said Martin’s family had sued the hospital.
- Patient
- Dale Alice Martin, 21
- Hospital
- Waterbury Hospital, Connecticut
- Date of incident
- April 10, 2025
- Time without checks
- 14 hours, according to the family’s complaint
- Cause of death
- Cardiac arrest after administration of multiple painkillers, according to the autopsy
- Hospital’s former manager
- Prospect Medical Holdings
What people are saying
She had no choice of hospital
I hung up, I was in shock
In the fourteen hours following her admission, hospital staff administered such a quantity of painkillers that Dale stopped breathing and later died
The facility was running at a reduced pace, mainly because Prospect Medical Holdings destroyed its infrastructure and cut staff and training, seeking to extract maximum profit at the expense of quality of care
Sources
Venue pour une simple fracture, elle meurt à l'hôpital à seulement 21 ans
Elle est reçue à l'hôpital pour une fracture à la cheville : une jeune femme de 21 ans meurt après avoir reçu une quantité trop importante d'analgésiques
"Son cœur a cessé de battre" : admise à l'hôpital pour une cheville cassée, une jeune femme meurt après une grave erreur des soignants
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