The family of a University of Connecticut dental student who died in an intensive care unit overseen remotely by a “teledoctor” in his final hours has accused the hospital of negligence in a wrongful death lawsuit filed last month.

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Conor Hylton, 26, was admitted to the Bridgeport Hospital’s Milford campus in August 2024 after experiencing severe abdominal pain associated with nausea and vomiting. Emergency room staff diagnosed him with alcohol-induced pancreatitis, dehydration and other related issues, according to an after-action report by the state department of health that is cited in the lawsuit.

ICU remote staffing has become more common in recent years as hospitals look for ways to reduce costs and backfill positions. The model expanded during the Covid pandemic, despite concerns from medical workers who worry that virtual care could be slower and less personal, which puts patients at risk.

Hylton was considered “high risk” after his initial assessment, according to the report, yet staffing issues prevented constant and consistent care in the 18 hours he was hospitalized, the lawsuit alleges.

His death was a “direct and proximate result of the negligence” of the hospital and its employees, the complaint said.

“The state DPH investigation uncovered an incomprehensible level of incompetence at Milford Hospital ICU,” the family’s lawyer Joel T. Faxon said in an emailed statement. “It’s alarming to think in a supposedly intensive care setting: Where is the doctor? Where are the nurses?”

“Yale New Haven Health is aware of this lawsuit and is committed to providing the safest and highest quality of care possible, however, we are unable to comment on pending litigation,” the hospital said in an emailed statement.

According to the state’s report, Hylton’s condition quickly declined after he arrived at the emergency room. His heart rate was elevated, his blood pressure was dangerously low and he showed signs of alcohol withdrawal. The symptoms only worsened from his arrival at 11 a.m. on Aug. 14 to his death the next morning.

On-site staff did not notify Hylton’s parents that he was being transferred to the ICU and failed to administer the appropriate medication for his worsening alcohol withdrawal, the report found.

An on-site doctor did not visit Hylton once in the four hours after he was transferred to the ICU, the state’s report found. Instead, hospital staff were forced to virtually confer with a remote doctor, who ordered an attending doctor to intubate Hylton after he “slid down his bed, his eyes rolled back and he became unresponsive” and vomited dark and brown matter, which indicates internal bleeding.

But the on-site doctor got lost on his way to Hylton’s bed, and was delayed some 10 minutes, according to the report. He had to stop and ask a nurse for directions. Hylton was pronounced dead less than two hours after he was intubated, the report said.

Hylton was described as a “beloved son, fiance, athlete and friend” in a statement provided by Faxon’s office.