A visit to the hospital for a simple ankle fracture turned into a tragedy for a 21-year-old college student in the U.S., who lost her life after allegedly being administered an excessive amount of painkillers.
Her family has filed a lawsuit, alleging gross medical negligence, while the case also centers on the major financial problems faced by the hospital where she was treated.
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Dale Alice Martin, originally from Manhattan, was admitted to Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut in April 2025 after injuring her ankle while working on a farm.
However, according to the lawsuit filed by her relatives, the 21-year-old never returned home, as the combination of strong painkillers she was given caused respiratory depression and subsequently cardiac arrest.
According to the Hartford Courant, citing court documents, the young college student received such a large amount of medication within a few hours that she stopped breathing, without the nursing staff realizing in time that her condition was deteriorating.
“She couldn’t even call for help.”
The lawsuit describes the 21-year-old’s final hours in harrowing detail, with her family claiming that the hospital staff did not monitor her adequately.
“Within 14 hours of her admission, doctors and nurses had administered so many painkillers to Dale that she stopped breathing and eventually died. No one checked on her during that time,” the court documents state.
According to the same complaint, the medications not only affected her breathing but also caused severe sedation, leaving the 21-year-old unable to call for help.
“Dale couldn’t even call for help as she was suffocating. When a nurse finally checked on her at 7 a.m. on April 10, it was already too late. Her heart had stopped,” the lawsuit states.
According to the autopsy results, her death was attributed to cardiac arrest following the administration of multiple painkillers.
Her father denounces the conditions at the hospital
The 21-year-old’s father, Lindsay Martin, described the shock he felt when he received the call from the hospital and was informed of his daughter’s tragic death.
“I hung up the phone and was in a state of shock,” he said, explaining that the family was unaware of the serious problems facing that particular hospital.
“It wasn’t until after Dale’s death that we learned she had been admitted to a bankrupt hospital that was under investigation, where nurses were reportedly buying food for the patients and funding was so limited that it might not have been able to function properly,” he said.
As he pointed out, his daughter did not have the option to choose a hospital, as she was taken to the nearest one after her injury.
Dale lived in Bethlehem, Connecticut, and was studying English Literature and History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Source: Protothema
