The family of Grace Schara, a 19-year-old with Down syndrome, sued Ascension St. Elizabeth Hospital, alleging the hospital’s COVID-19 treatment protocols directly resulted in Grace’s death in October 2021. The lawsuit includes an allegation of medical battery, a standard of intentional harm beyond medical negligence by doctors and other providers.
Jury selection began today in a “landmark” trial alleging the wrongful death of Grace Schara, a 19-year-old with Down syndrome who died in a Wisconsin hospital days after being admitted for a COVID-19 infection and low oxygen levels.
It’s the first jury trial in the U.S. for a death listed as COVID-19 on the death certificate.
Grace’s family sued Ascension St. Elizabeth Hospital in April 2023, and filed an amended complaint in July 2023, alleging the hospital’s COVID-19 treatment protocols directly resulted in Grace’s death in October 2021.
The lawsuit includes an allegation of medical battery, a standard of intentional harm beyond medical negligence by doctors and other providers.
According to the complaint, the hospital was financially incentivized to implement COVID-19 protocols that allegedly caused Grace’s death, including administration of three contraindicated medications — Precedex, lorazepam and morphine — and that it implemented a “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) order over her family’s objections.
The State of Wisconsin Circuit Court for Outagamie County will hear the case. In a media advisory issued last week, Grace’s family said the trial will examine allegations of negligence, lack of informed consent, and medical battery and that the case “could have broader implications for accountability in U.S. healthcare.”
The lawsuit names 14 defendants, including Ascension Health, five medical doctors and four John Doe medical providers, two registered nurses, and the Wisconsin Injured Patients and Family Compensation Fund.
“This bellwether case is about something much bigger than mere malpractice, and its impact will reverberate nationally,” Grace’s father, Scott Schara, said in July 2023. In November 2023, Schara told CHD.TV that the key purpose of his lawsuit is to overturn “a legislative immunity” surrounding the medical profession.
Attorney Warner Mendenhall, who leads the Schara family’s legal team, said during the CHD.TV interview that the case is “helping to carve a pathway for other families.”
Mendenhall said:
“Our goal is simple: Save lives. That’s why this case is first about the lack of informed consent — a battery — leading to negligence and malpractice, which then resulted in wrongful death. Moreover, this case is about protecting the public from doctors unilaterally placing DNR orders on patients. If we would have had informed consent, Grace would be with us today.”
Schara told The Defender in August 2024 that through his lawsuit, he seeks not only to obtain justice for his daughter’s death but also to expose broader corruption in the medical and legal systems.
“I’m doing this because my daughter is dead and I do not want this to happen to anyone else, including the defendants’ kids,” Schara said.
