Dale Alice Martin’s family alleges excessive pain medication and failures in monitoring led to the 21-year-old college student’s death.
WATERBURY, Conn. — A 21-year-old college student who went to a Connecticut hospital for treatment of a broken ankle suffered cardiac arrest after allegedly receiving excessive amounts of pain medication and being left without adequate monitoring, according to a lawsuit filed by her family.
Dale Alice Martin, a Manhattan native who was living in Bethlehem, Connecticut, was treated at Waterbury Hospital after fracturing her ankle while doing farm work in April 2025. Her family alleges that medical providers gave her multiple narcotic pain medications that suppressed her breathing while also making her too sedated to seek help. The allegations are part of a medical malpractice lawsuit and have not been proven in court.
According to the complaint, Martin arrived at Waterbury Hospital for treatment after suffering the ankle injury. Within about 14 hours, the lawsuit alleges, she had received enough pain medication that she stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. The complaint also alleges that hospital staff failed to adequately monitor her as the medications affected her breathing and level of consciousness.
The lawsuit says a nurse found Martin unresponsive at about 7 a.m. on April 10, 2025, after her heart had stopped. Medical staff were able to restore circulation, but Martin had suffered a severe brain injury and was later declared brain dead, according to published accounts of the complaint. She remained on life support while her family gathered at the hospital. Life support was withdrawn April 13.
Martin’s family says an autopsy connected her cardiac arrest to the combined effects of pain medication she received during treatment. Records described in news reports also indicate that she received oxycodone and morphine before another narcotic was ordered. The lawsuit alleges that failures involving medication orders and patient monitoring allowed overlapping medications to be administered without sufficient safeguards.
The family’s attorney, Christopher Mattei of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, is also examining whether conditions at Waterbury Hospital under its former corporate owner contributed to Martin’s care. The hospital was then operated by Prospect Medical Holdings, a California-based health care company that had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2025.
Martin’s father, Lindsay Martin, has said the family did not understand the extent of Waterbury Hospital’s financial difficulties when his daughter was brought there. He told reporters that she did not choose among hospitals after her injury and was taken to the nearest facility. The family alleges that staffing, training and other operational problems tied to financial pressures may have affected the care she received.
The hospital’s former owner had faced mounting financial problems in Connecticut before Martin’s hospitalization. Prospect Medical Holdings acquired Waterbury Hospital in 2016 and later accumulated substantial debts while operating hospitals in the state. Connecticut officials and lawmakers scrutinized the company’s finances and management as its hospitals struggled with unpaid bills and other financial pressures.
Prospect filed for bankruptcy in January 2025. Court records from the bankruptcy proceedings later listed the Estate of Dale Alice Martin among creditors connected to the case. Connecticut officials subsequently approved the transfer of Waterbury Hospital to a UConn Health affiliate as part of efforts to preserve hospital services after Prospect’s financial collapse.
UConn Health’s affiliate received state approval in January 2026 to acquire Waterbury Hospital and related assets. The hospital now operates as UConn Health Waterbury Hospital. The current organization has said the change placed the facility within a nonprofit network. Martin’s treatment occurred before that transfer and while Prospect controlled the hospital.
Martin was an undergraduate student at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she studied English and history, according to reports about her life. She had attended school in Pelham, New York, and was taking time away from college while living in Connecticut. Published accounts also described her as a musician who gave piano lessons to children.
The malpractice allegations remain pending, and the available court and news records do not establish that any defendant has been found legally responsible for Martin’s death. Her family is seeking to determine how medication management, patient monitoring and conditions at the hospital may have contributed to the series of events that began with treatment for a broken ankle and ended with her death.
Author note: Last updated October 12, 2026.