21-year-old ended up in hospital with a broken ankle and never came out alive – family accuses overdose of sedatives and begins the court battle

Drama at a Connecticut hospital has caused deep pain for a New York family. A 21-year-old young woman who sought medical help only for a broken ankle ended up losing her life, and her relatives have leveled serious accusations against the hospital, claiming she was given an excessive amount of painkillers.

Dale Alice Martin was admitted to Waterbury Hospital on April 10, 2025, one day after injuring her ankle while working on a farm. But, according to documents filed in court, the hospital visit turned into a tragedy.

The lawsuit filed against the health institution emphasizes that, within just 14 hours of admission, the young woman was administered so many sedatives that she stopped breathing and then died.

According to court documents, the medications had caused breathing problems and left her in a drowsy state, preventing her from calling for help herself. The medical staff, the lawsuit claims, only approached the patient at around 7:00 in the morning – when her heart had already stopped.

The autopsy determined that the cause was cardiac arrest. The family’s lawyer, Christopher Mattei, accuses the hospital of serious deficiencies in patient care and of negligence by the staff.

Dale’s father, Lindsay Martin, told the Hartford Courant that the family had no information about the financial and organizational difficulties the hospital was going through at the time of his daughter’s admission.

“We only learned after Dale’s death that she had been sent to a hospital that was heading toward bankruptcy, was under investigation, and, according to accusations, nurses with impeccable [integrity] bought food for the patients. The budget was so tight that it might not have functioned properly at all,” he said.

It was impossible for the young woman to choose another hospital, the father added, as she was simply taken to the nearest institution.

Dale Martin lived in Bethlehem, Connecticut. She had attended high school in Pelham, in New York’s Westchester County, and was studying English and history at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Also at the center of the debate is Waterbury Hospital’s past, which for years belonged to the California-based Prospect Medical Holdings group – a company that filed for bankruptcy in January 2025. At the beginning of this year, the hospital came under the administration of UConn Health.

Lawyer Mattei believes that the financial crisis of the previous owners may have severely impacted the hospital’s functioning, including the condition of the facilities, staffing levels, and staff training.

“We expect facts to come to light that the hospital was operating with minimal resources, as a result of the destruction of infrastructure by Prospect, the reduction in the number of employees, and various tactics to extract profits from the institution – all at the cost of patient safety,” he said.

On the other hand, a hospital spokesperson declined to comment, emphasizing that the young woman’s death occurred before the ownership transfer to the new operator.

The court proceedings are expected to clarify what happened at that hospital and to test the family’s accusations against the doctors, nurses, and administrators of the institution. For now, the claims remain just that – claims – until the court issues its ruling.