A New York couple experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when their 21-year-old daughter was brought to a hospital last year.
Dale Alice Martin had only broken her ankle but died 14 hours after seeking treatment in Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut.
Her father, Lindsay Martin, is now suing the medical institution, claiming that Dale’s death was caused by medical malpractice, the Hartford Courant reported.
‘Within 14 hours of admission, providers at the hospital had administered so much pain medication that Dale stopped breathing and later died,’ the lawsuit filed by lawyer Christopher Mattei of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder said.
‘No one checked on Dale during this time. The same medications that were interfering with Dale’s breathing were also sedating her.
‘Dale could not even call for help as she suffocated. At 7am on April 10, a Waterbury Hospital nurse finally checked on Dale. It was far too late. Her heart had stopped beating.’
When brought to the hospital, neither Dale nor her parents knew that she was headed for an institution struggling with adequate patient care capacities allegedly caused by the hospital’s former private equity owner.
Waterbury Hospital was owned by California-based Prospect Medical Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy three months before Dale passed away.