The final moments of Conor Hylton’s life sounded, to his family, like something out of a dystopian science-fiction nightmare — a harrowing scene now detailed in a disturbing new lawsuit over his death.
Hylton, a 26-year-old dental student, died on August 15, 2024, while a doctor stationed 12 miles away directed nurses at his bedside through a video connection, according to the legal complaint filed by his family.
The lawsuit says an automated device performed chest compressions as his parents prayed he would survive. A physician was called in to assist, the complaint alleges, but became lost while trying to get to the hospital.
As the crisis unfolded, vomit clotted with blood reportedly soaked Conor’s white bedsheets and collected on the floor. His terrified father, Bill Hylton, said he rubbed his son’s leg and repeated the names of family members, hoping for any sign that Conor might respond, according to the lawsuit.
‘It was complete chaos,’ Bill, 63, told the Daily Mail this week, describing the traumatic events laid out in the filing. ‘All the machines were beeping. It was really scary. My wife wasn’t in a good state, and neither was I.
‘Then I look up for a second and see a TV screen on the wall, and I hear this guy talking. And I just wasn’t sure what was going on for a minute, but then I realized this guy is running this entire thing from the TV.’
Conor was pronounced dead shortly after 6am, following what the complaint describes as critical final hours managed by a physician working remotely from Yale New Haven Health’s tele-clinic.
His family’s lawsuit alleges that other serious failures also marked the period before his death, including a claimed overdose of sedatives.
Conor James Hylton from New Haven, Connecticut, died at the age of 26 on August 15, 2024, at Bridgeport Hospital. His father has sued the hospital for alleged negligence
Conor (left) is shown in an old photograph with his parents Betsy and Bill Hylton, and his brothers Liam and Blake
The dental student had a history of alcohol abuse, and he was being monitored for withdrawal symptoms including nausea, dehydration, pancreatitis and metabolic acidosis.
He had low blood pressure, EKG results suggesting heart rhythm problems, and elevated heart and respiratory rates.
Bill told the Daily Mail that when Conor suddenly began deteriorating overnight, another doctor rushed to treat him in person – but got lost on the way to the hospital, causing a 21-minute delay, as outlined in the lawsuit.
Bill said the second doctor, Che Damon Ward, was the only medic involved in Conor’s treatment who knew how to clear airways. Conor died in the ICU after choking on his own vomit.
‘The doctor got lost for ten minutes,’ Bill said, as outlined in his lawsuit. ‘He comes up and my son is intubated after 21 minutes, after aspirating his vomit. And his airway was never protected.’
The heartbroken father has sued Bridgeport Hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital, and Northeast Medical Group claiming that Conor’s death was a direct result of negligence on behalf of the medical providers.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Bill blasted the emergency room where his son died as ‘a fake ICU.’ He believes Conor would ‘absolutely’ still be alive today if there had been a physician present in the hospital’s critical care section.
Adding to the trauma, Bill said that he and his wife, Betsy Hylton, were not informed that his son was in the ICU until they received a harrowing phone call at 4.45am.
Conor was a student athlete during his high school years at Notre Dame. He is pictured second left with his parents Bill and Betsy, and younger brothers Liam and Blake
Conor died after being treated by a physician who was allegedly working remotely via a screen, according to a lawsuit launched by his heartbroken relatives
Conor died in the ICU at the Milford Campus of Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut
They later learned from medical records that Conor had been rushed to the emergency room almost five hours prior, at about midnight, per the complaint.
‘We got the call at 4.45 in the morning, and it was a very abrupt call from the hospitalist who was in charge of him,’ Bill said.
‘The first thing she said was, “Did you know your son was in the hospital?” And I mean, of course we knew he was in the hospital. She said, “We’re doing aggressive CPR on him. You should get here now.”‘
Bill said they rushed to the hospital in a state of shock, having left Conor’s bedside less than ten hours before believing he was stable and simply needed rehydrating overnight.
The devoted parents, who are also medical practitioners in the dental field, took Conor to the hospital at about 11am on August 14, 2024, after he began vomiting and struggling to hold his food down.
Bill said that he chose to take his son to the Bridgeport Hospital believing it would provide the best care, as one of the smaller Yale-run facilities.
‘We thought it might be quicker,’ he said.
Conor studied his undergraduate degree at the University of Connecticut. He is pictured at his graduation
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Conor is pictured in an undated photograph provided by his family
Bill said he and his wife spent about eight hours in the hospital with Conor before leaving at 7pm, believing he just needed rehydration.
They planned to return the next day with Conor’s younger brothers, Liam, now 27, and Blake, now 24.
Bill said his final conversation with Conor was simply a discussion about whether he would be well enough to pick up his student pass and drive home the next day.
It would be the last time he got to speak with his eldest son.
As the family dug for answers in the aftermath, they also found that nurses in the ICU had given Conor an overdose of a sedative during his final hours, according to their lawyer Joel Faxon.
‘Conor was given an overdose of Precedex after being given a cocktail of other consciousness-altering drugs,’ Faxon told the Daily Mail.
‘So not only was he decompensating and not monitored or seen by a doctor in the ICU, a drug that was given off-label or in violation of the protocol would have the potential to accelerate your risk of airway loss, breathing issues and other consequences.’
Conor’s grief-stricken family is questioning in the lawsuit whether he would have been given an apparent miscalculation of the dose if a physician had been present.
Conor was a popular student, with a large circle of friends, his father Bill told the Daily Mail
Conor was a student athlete during his high school years at Notre Dame in Connecticut
Meanwhile, his younger brothers never got to see him in hospital, or say goodbye.
Liam Hylton said Conor was his role model, describing him as a hard-working dental student who wanted to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
‘He was a very funny and goofy guy to hang out with, but ever since he was a teenager, he always had this serious switch for when he had to do something education wise or professional,’ Liam told the Daily Mail.
‘He was always very high achieving whatever he did. I always looked up to him academics-wise.’
Liam added that the ‘pain and grief’ of losing Conor was ‘destroying’ the family, and he wanted to raise awareness about the dangers of tele-health ICUs in the hopes that nobody else would experience the same trauma.
‘I will never get to see him become a dentist,’ Bill added as he paid tribute to his son.
‘He wanted to be a root canal specialist. I’ll never get to see him marry.
‘That was all taken from us. His future. Your kid should outlive you. So this is the worst thing that could happen to a family.’
Conor leaves behind two brothers, pictured on the far left and far right when they were younger
Conor’s heartbroken family has launched a lawsuit against the hospital where he died claiming he was also given an overdose of sedatives
Conor was a promising student at the UConn School of Dental Medicine.
He studied his undergraduate degree at the University of Connecticut, and was a student athlete during his high school years at Notre Dame.
‘His gifted athleticism led him to play Irish football at the New Haven Gaelic Football Club and to receive his black belt in Taekwondo,’ his obituary reads.
Qualifying as a dentist was his ‘life long dream,’ according to the tribute.
His father’s lawsuit requests financial and emotional damages.
The Daily Mail has contacted Bridgeport Hospital, Yale New Haven Hospital and Northeast Medical Group for comment.
Yale New Haven Health declined to directly address the specific allegations while the lawsuit is active.
A spokesman said in a statement: ‘Our priority has always been, and remains, providing safe, high-quality care to our patients.
‘We remain committed to continuous review and improvement of patient safety practices.
‘Because this is active litigation, we cannot comment on specific allegations and will address the claims in the appropriate legal forum.’
