She Went to the Hospital With a Broken Ankle. Hours Later, She Was Brain Dead
A wrongful-death lawsuit alleges that a Connecticut hospital gave a 21-year-old woman excessive pain medication after she broke her ankle, causing respiratory failure that led to fatal brain damage.
The woman's father, Lindsay Martin, filed the complaint in Connecticut Superior Court in October 2026 against Waterbury Hospital and others involved in her care. Dale Alice Martin died on 13 April 2025, four days after admission. Her family alleges hospital staff failed to monitor how painkillers affected her breathing.
Dale Martin Suffers Severe Ankle Fracture During Farm Work
Martin, originally from New York, was spending a university gap year working on a Connecticut farm when she injured her left ankle on 9 April 2025. She had been carrying hay when she suffered a complex fracture involving her fibula. Doctors planned surgery for the following morning, as per a report by Law&Crime.
The woman described her pain as 10 out of 10 and said the morphine she received helped only briefly, according to court records. She later spoke to her family by video call. Despite the pain, she smiled during their conversation.
Pain Medication Linked to Fatal Oxygen Deprivation
The lawsuit alleges staff repeatedly administered opioids, some intravenously, without properly assessing their effects. It says Martin became so sedated that she could not call for help as her breathing slowed. At about 7 am on 10 April 2025, a nurse found her unresponsive and without a heartbeat.
Staff resuscitated Martin, but oxygen deprivation had already caused severe brain damage. She was declared brain dead and died on 13 April 2025. Connecticut's Office of Chief Medical Examiner attributed her death to anoxic encephalopathy after cardiorespiratory arrest involving acute oxycodone, hydromorphone and gabapentin intoxication, classifying it as accidental.
Gabapentin is not an opioid, but it can increase the risk of dangerous breathing problems when combined with opioids. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that this combination can cause severe sedation and respiratory depression.
The Patient Safety Movement Foundation recommends monitoring oxygen levels, breathing and consciousness in hospital patients receiving opioids.
Father Files Lawsuit Over Daughter's Death
The complaint accuses Waterbury Hospital of inadequate staffing, unsafe prescribing, insufficient monitoring and failing to consider non-opioid treatments, according to a report by CT Insider. It also names a doctor, a nurse, the Connecticut Spine and Disc Institute and former owner Prospect Medical Holdings.
The lawsuit seeks damages exceeding $15,000 (£11,300), the standard threshold specified in Connecticut civil complaints, without stating a precise amount.
A federal investigation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services found that the hospital failed to ensure a complete physician telephone order, creating a risk of duplicate narcotic medication doses.
The doctor later acknowledged that he should have clearly instructed staff to discontinue morphine before administering Dilaudid, another opioid. Those findings do not, by themselves, determine legal liability.
Martin's Death Raises Questions About Hospital Staffing
Prospect entered bankruptcy in January 2025, before Martin's admission. An April 2025 investigation by Connecticut Mirror reported that state health inspectors had identified serious nursing shortages at Waterbury Hospital in 2024, including concerns about unsafe staffing in its intensive care unit. No direct connection to Martin's death has been established.
UConn Health subsequently bought the hospital in March 2026 through a $13 million (£9.8 million) deal. It added that patient safety remained its priority and directed questions about Martin's treatment to Prospect. The former owner did not respond to CT Insider's request for comment. The claims against the hospital and other defendants have not been established by a court.