Key Takeaways
- • NBC News investigation links years of financial distress, staffing shortages, and patient safety failures at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut to the death of a 21-year-old patient admitted for a broken ankle.
- • Waterbury Hospital was acquired in 2016 by Prospect Medical Holdings, a chain backed by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, and NBC reports that expansion coincided with mounting financial problems.
- • A 2025 U.S. Senate Budget Committee investigation found Prospect paid investors $645 million in dividends while the hospital system was in severe financial distress.
- • Prospect filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, and its remaining hospitals have since been sold or closed.
- • PESP's Private Equity Hospital Tracker identifies 561 private equity-owned hospitals nationwide, nearly one in eight private hospitals and more than one-third of for-profit hospitals.
Summary
An NBC News investigation published September 24 examines how years of financial struggles, staffing shortages, and patient safety failures at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut preceded the death of Dale Alice Martin, a 21-year-old who was admitted for a broken ankle and died in April 2025 after hospital staff administered multiple narcotic pain medications. According to the report, State investigators found that her vital signs and breathing had not been documented overnight. NBC also uncovered records showing another patient died at Waterbury five months earlier after receiving 50 times the prescribed dose of morphine.
Waterbury Hospital was acquired in 2016 by Prospect Medical Holdings, a hospital chain backed by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. NBC reported that Prospect's expansion was accompanied by mounting financial problems, deteriorating hospital conditions, and concerns from nurses about staffing and patient safety. Longtime Waterbury nurses described being assigned more patients, working in unfamiliar units, and purchasing medical supplies themselves as conditions deteriorated. A 2025 U.S. Senate Budget Committee investigation found that Prospect paid investors $645 million in dividends during this period of severe financial distress.
Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) Communications Director Matt Parr told NBC how private equity firms use debt to generate investor returns. "Private equity firms tend to add debt to the things they own, and they use that debt to pay themselves dividends," Parr said. Prospect filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, and its remaining hospitals have since been sold or closed.
The story comes as PESP's updated Private Equity Hospital Tracker identifies 561 private equity-owned hospitals nationwide, representing nearly one in eight private hospitals and more than one-third of for-profit hospitals. The tracker documents financial structures used by private equity-backed hospital systems, including real estate investment trusts and joint ventures with nonprofit health systems. PESP says the Waterbury findings underscore its concerns about how debt, investor payouts, and financial instability can affect hospitals and the communities that rely on them.
Waterbury Hospital was acquired in 2016 by Prospect Medical Holdings, a hospital chain backed by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. NBC reported that Prospect's expansion was accompanied by mounting financial problems, deteriorating hospital conditions, and concerns from nurses about staffing and patient safety. Longtime Waterbury nurses described being assigned more patients, working in unfamiliar units, and purchasing medical supplies themselves as conditions deteriorated. A 2025 U.S. Senate Budget Committee investigation found that Prospect paid investors $645 million in dividends during this period of severe financial distress.
Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) Communications Director Matt Parr told NBC how private equity firms use debt to generate investor returns. "Private equity firms tend to add debt to the things they own, and they use that debt to pay themselves dividends," Parr said. Prospect filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, and its remaining hospitals have since been sold or closed.
The story comes as PESP's updated Private Equity Hospital Tracker identifies 561 private equity-owned hospitals nationwide, representing nearly one in eight private hospitals and more than one-third of for-profit hospitals. The tracker documents financial structures used by private equity-backed hospital systems, including real estate investment trusts and joint ventures with nonprofit health systems. PESP says the Waterbury findings underscore its concerns about how debt, investor payouts, and financial instability can affect hospitals and the communities that rely on them.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.