Promising dental student died in ICU overseen by remote ‘tele-health’ physician, declared dead via video: lawsuit

A 26-year-old promising dental student died in a Connecticut hospital’s intensive care unit that was being overseen by a “tele-health” doctor — who pronounced him dead via a video call, a lawsuit alleges.

Conor Hylton’s family slapped the wrongful death lawsuit against Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus last month for allegedly not having a physical doctor on-site when he was admitted to the ICU in August 2024, according to the filing.

Hylton, who was studying at UConn School of Dental Medicine, took a turn for the worse in the hours after he went to the hospital seeking treatment for pancreatitis and a slew of other conditions. 

In the four hours he was in the ICU, Hylton was never examined by an on-site doctor, despite his condition worsening, the lawsuit charges.

“They violated hospital policy because no on-site doctor assessed Mr. Hylton from the time he was admitted to the ICU until after he exhibited seizure-like activity at 4:30 a.m.,” the court docs state.

Instead, the hospital allegedly relied on “off-site tele-ICU providers to care for its patients.”

Eventually, Hylton “slid down in bed, his eyes rolled back and he … exhibited seizure-like activity, vomited, became bradycardic and code was called,” the suit said.

“He was intubated, but he could not be resuscitated, and he was pronounced dead.”

“The pronouncement was done by a ‘tele-health’ provider on a video screen,” the suit added.

Hylton’s family claims that the hospital never even told them that the dental student had been admitted to the ICU.

“[The hospital] allowed for extremely poor communication among the providers responsible for Conor’s life which is especially dangerous to patient care when the hospital is relying on off-site tele-ICU providers to care for its patients,” the complaint alleged.

A Bridgeport Hospital spokesperson told the Hartford Courant it was aware of the lawsuit and was committed to “providing the safest and highest quality of care possible.”

The hospital confirmed it utilizes tele-health professionals, claiming it enhances the treatment of “critically ill patients by pairing advanced virtual monitoring with expert bedside teams.”

“A dedicated virtual team collaborates closely with on‑site nurses, physicians and ICU intensivists to provide continuous monitoring, timely decisions and coordinated, high‑quality care throughout the ICU stay,” the spokesperson said. 

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