Background: Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut (Google Maps). Inset: Dale Martin (Lindsay Martin).
A 21-year-old woman hospitalized in Connecticut for a broken ankle died after receiving what her family’s lawsuit describes as excessive pain medication that suppressed her breathing.
The complaint argues that Dale Martin would still be alive if she had not been treated at Waterbury Hospital. “Dale’s healthcare providers at Waterbury Hospital should have kept her safe. Instead, they caused her death,” the filing alleges.
Martin was working on a New England farm on the morning of April 9, 2025. Her family said she was spending a gap year from college in Connecticut, also known as the Constitution State.
She reportedly tripped while working and suffered a fractured ankle. Martin was taken to Waterbury Hospital in west-central Connecticut, where doctors diagnosed a complex break and scheduled surgery for the following morning.
According to court documents filed with the lawsuit, Martin repeatedly cried out in severe pain, rating it a 10 out of 10. She reportedly said an initial dose of morphine relieved the pain for “maybe 5 minutes.” Despite her discomfort, the complaint says she appeared well enough to give her family “a big smile” during a FaceTime call.
As the evening continued, hospital staff administered opioid painkillers, including medication delivered through an IV, the lawsuit alleges. The filing claims the doses were so high that Martin’s breathing reflex was impaired, causing her lungs to slow and reducing the oxygen reaching her body.
Martin’s family alleges that she was sedated and suffocating in her hospital bed without anyone checking on her. “Dale could not even call for help as she suffocated,” the complaint states.
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A nurse eventually found Martin the next morning, but the lawsuit says the intervention came “far too late.” She was allegedly unresponsive, had stopped breathing and no longer had a heartbeat.
Hospital personnel were able to revive Martin, according to the complaint, but the resulting brain injury was so extensive that recovery was not possible. Four days after she was admitted, she was declared brain-dead.
Martin reportedly suffered anoxic encephalopathy, a condition that occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen, even briefly.
Martin’s father filed the lawsuit against Waterbury Hospital and one of its doctors. He accuses the defendants of failing to properly supervise staff, maintain adequate staffing levels and monitor how the medication was affecting his daughter, among other alleged shortcomings.
The lawsuit seeks damages in an amount that has not been specified.
According to CT Insider, Prospect Medical Holdings owned Waterbury Hospital when Martin died. UConn Health later purchased the facility from the bankrupt company in a taxpayer-funded $13 million transaction completed in March 2026.
“The quality, safety, and wellbeing of our patients is our top priority,” UConn Health told the outlet. The health system directed further questions about the lawsuit to Prospect Medical Holdings, which reportedly did not respond to CT Insider’s request for comment.
The post 21-year-old woman who went to hospital for broken ankle died after staff gave her so much opioid medication she suffocated: Lawsuit first appeared on Law & Crime.