Dr. William Hylton says he has a hard time encapsulating everything that made his son Conor “a great kid.”
He was an all-state hockey goalie at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, Connecticut, and a black belt in taekwondo, as well as being at the top of his class. He was a friendly guy who loved animals and hard work, his dad told CNN, and “was just a joy growing up.”
The University of Connecticut student, who had been studying dentistry to follow in his parents’ footsteps, died at Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus in August 2024 after being diagnosed with pancreatitis, dehydration, metabolic acidosis and alcohol withdrawal. Hylton was declared dead via a “tele-health provider” on a video screen, rather than a person at the hospital, according to a lawsuit that the family filed against the hospital. The lawsuit also argues that the hospital was “inattentive” and “provided substandard care” that resulted in his death.
“He was 26. This shouldn’t have happened. He had so much life to look forward to, and he was so proud to be in dental school,” William Hylton said. “It was just such a shock to everybody.”
Conor Hylton’s case seems to underscore the increasing number of patients who don’t see an intensive care unit specialist in person, even in an emergency, experts say. And even as the use of telehealth has grown in recent years, standards for its use – particularly in these circumstances – haven’t kept up.
The area where the Hylton family lived was “medically dense” with hospitals, according to the family’s lawyer, Joel Faxon. Hylton went to the hospital nearest the family’s home, not knowing that its ICU didn’t necessarily have a critical care medicine specialist on-site when he would need them most.
“You wouldn’t for a minute expect that you would have a telehealth physician in the intensive care unit,” Faxon said. “You can’t provide the care through a video system. You know, it doesn’t have arms that reach out and do things to you. And nobody knew this.”
The hospital’s owner told CNN in an email: “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.”
Hylton initially went to the Milford Campus emergency room on August 14, 2024, complaining of intense stomach pain. He’d been vomiting for days and couldn’t even keep liquids down.
He was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis that included dehydration, alcohol withdrawal and pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas, according to medical records cited in the lawsuit.
While his blood pressure sank and his heart raced, Hylton became agitated and restless, and his mental condition declined, prompting a transfer to the ICU at 12:38 a.m.
On the overnight shift, the hospital used a tele-ICU service, meaning there was no ICU intensivist – a board-certified physician with specialized training in critical care medicine – on-site, according to an analysis included with the lawsuit from a medical expert who reviewed Hylton’s records.
It’s unclear from the documents whether this was a regular occurrence or what specific responsibilities the telehealth doctor had in the ICU. The hospital declined to provide further details.
There was a hospitalist on-site, a doctor who typically specializes in internal medicine or family medicine, who works within a hospital to manage the care of inpatients, the analysis says, but she didn’t see Hylton, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the hospital did not tell his family that Hylton’s condition had deteriorated and that he had been transferred to the ICU without a doctor on-site. Had the family known, Faxon said, they would have asked for a transfer to the Yale or Bridgeport hospitals, a short drive away.
By 4:30 a.m., the lawsuit says, Hylton had “slid down in bed, his eyes rolled back,” and he became unresponsive, with seizure-like activity. He received a tube to help him breathe, but he eventually went into cardiac arrest.
Medical personnel were unable to resuscitate Hylton, and a telehealth provider pronounced him dead, according to the lawsuit.
A government investigation referenced by the lawsuit says there was a delay in Hylton’s intubation, in part because of the lack of an in-person physician. And when a doctor who was working in the emergency room was called to help with the intubation, the investigation says, he didn’t know how to find the ICU and had to find a nurse to direct him, causing a 10-minute delay.
The investigation documents cited in the lawsuit also say there was “extremely poor communication” and no handoff process between providers. Although several CIWA assessments – a bedside tool used to assess and manage the severity of alcohol withdrawal – were conducted before Hylton went to the ICU, there were none when he was in intensive care, which allowed for no assessments for pain or a change in mental status there, the government investigation referenced in the lawsuit
The lawsuit says it “seeks justice for Conor James Hylton and to dismantle the culture of substandard care and inattention that caused Conor to die so young.”
In an email to CNN on Tuesday, the Connecticut Department of Public Health said it could not confirm whether there was a state investigation into Hylton’s case. But attached to the lawsuit is a letter from the hospital, dated July 18, 2025, and addressed to the state health department’s Facility Licensing and Investigations Section. The letter says it is Bridgeport Hospital’s response to the statement of deficiencies, and the deficiencies are spelled out in paperwork that says it is from the state health department and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Documents from the investigation that were included in the lawsuit said a complaint survey completed May 19, 2025, found that the hospital was “not in substantial compliance with the requirements of the law pertaining to the standards of patient care.”
Those documents also say the hospital violated its own policy by failing to let Hylton’s family know that he was transferred to the ICU and that his condition had gotten worse.
A 2018 study of data from an American Hospital Association survey found that more than 25% of surveyed hospital ICUs used telemedicine, and experts say that number probably grew during the Covid-19 pandemic, in part because of social distancing measures.
Dr. Jeremy Kahn said guidelines on the use of telehealth haven’t kept up.
“The Society of Critical Care Medicine does publish some implementation guidelines, but they’re pretty vague,” said Kahn, a professor of critical care medicine and health policy management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who researches the use of telehealth. “They’re not very specific. So I don’t think hospitals have much specific guidance right now on how to adopt telemedicine and the most effective way, and that is a gap, right? I think there can be more standardization around that.”
Kahn said every ICU uses telehealth a bit differently, but he thinks it would be rare to have an ICU use a remote doctor in lieu of someone at the hospital.
Most ICUs use telehealth to supplement the expertise of an in-person physician, he said. Some may also use it to augment care on the overnight shift, when staffing may be slimmer.
The effectiveness of telehealth in the ICU can vary, according to Kahn.
“The data would say that it probably is helpful in some circumstances and not as useful in other circumstances. It’s not like a drug, where it’s either going to help or it’s not, right? It’s very context-dependent and highly dependent on how you use it,” he said.
Overall, he said, it can be helpful in some settings, but “I think a more thoughtful, structured, rigorous approach is probably in order in general.”
Medical ethicist Dr. Art Caplan of New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine says that although the use of telemedicine has grown significantly in hospitals, particularly in rural areas where there aren’t as many doctors, its growth has largely gone under the radar, and he agrees that the standards haven’t really kept up.
Ethically, he says, it would be best used by a “trained and tested” remote professional with an agreed-upon certification and training program, but there is no national standard.
“I’m not opposed to remote telemedicine, even in critical care, but the weakness in this area is, I don’t think we’ve agreed on what it takes to be certified to be a remote ICU practitioner and then what it would take the make sure local providers are trusted to work with the remote doctor,” he said.
Caplan would also like hospitals to disclose up front, before someone goes to the ICU, if they are staffed remotely only. Some people may not be bothered, he says, but “I can imagine somebody says that they don’t want to stay there.”
“The requirements around informed consent and disclosure around this remain a gray zone,” he said.
Nichole Davis, a patient advocate who authored “Patient Advocacy for Dummies,” says telehealth can be very useful, particularly for follow-up care and for expanding care to areas of the country that might not have as many doctors or specialists.
If patients have concerns about the use of telehealth in any circumstance – not just in the ICU – they should always feel comfortable asking about how it’s used and in what circumstances, and they may want to ask about that up-front. If a patient or family member is worried about anything concerning their care, she says, they can ask to be transferred to another hospital.
“I think ultimately, your right to request a transfer is probably one of the most underused rights, specifically with emergency care,” Davis said.
And even if a hospital says it can’t comply with a transfer request, a patient or family member can ask to have that documented in the record. A simple request may “get the wheels turning,” Davis said, and sometimes it will prompt the hospital to make more resources available.
Hylton’s family hopes the attention that his case will help others.
His father and one of his brothers Liam said they were moved by how many people Conor touched in his short life. So many came to his funeral: friends from high school and college, the entire hockey team, teachers and coaches.
Growing up, Liam says, whether they were playing hockey or rooming together at college, the brothers always had each other’s backs.
“It’s now like we’re fighting for justice in his name.”
CNN’s Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.
