Lawsuit Filed Against Wisconsin Hospital, Family Alleges COVID Treatment Protocols Resulted in Daughter’s Death

Grace Schara. Courtesy of Scott Schara

Scott Schara has filed a lawsuit against a Wisconsin hospital alleging that its physicians implemented COVID treatment protocols that led to the death of his 19-year-old daughter, Grace, on Oct. 13, 2021.

Schara told The Epoch Times that it’s his hope that the lawsuit (pdf) will “pave the way for thousands of other hospital victims’ families to file similar claims.”

“This is not a case about financial repercussions,” Schara said. “It is a case about shining light on a subject hidden from the American people. It is about stopping the behaviors of medical staff that result in needless, premature deaths.”

Grace, who had Down syndrome, was admitted to Ascension’s St. Elizabeth Hospital campus in Appleton, Wisconsin, for COVID treatment.

Schara, who told the story of Grace’s death in a previous Epoch Times report, said that Grace had been administered three drugs—a maximum dose of the sedative Precedex; Ativan, an anxiety medication; and morphine—that caused her to go into acute respiratory failure.

Because a physician had classified Grace as “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) “without the family’s consent and in defiance of the Schara family’s express wishes that all lifesaving measures be deployed for their daughter,” the lawsuit states staff refused to save Grace as her parents watched her die on FaceTime.

The lawsuit claims wrongful death, medical negligence, medical battery, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

In addition, the lawsuit asks for declaratory judgment regarding the illegal DNR, and it requests a jury trial.

“The actions which took place and led to this litigation occurred in midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, Grace did not die from COVID-19 and did not have COVID-19 when she died,” the lawsuit states. “She died because she was given end of life comfort-care while in recovery. This unauthorized palliative care consisted of strong sedatives that eventually caused Grace’s respiratory and heart rates to crash.”

‘Death Protocols’

Schara’s story resembled that of many others who spoke of what they called “death protocols,” or COVID-19 treatment protocols that they alleged resulted in the death of their loved ones.

These protocols reaped high financial incentives from the federal government through the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Acts, which facilitated a 20 percent increase in reimbursements for hospitals that used late-treatment instead of early-treatment protocols that in many cases ended in death.

In a Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services in June 2022, Texas state Sen. Bob Hall alluded to stories when he said, “Never before have we seen the government step between the patient and the doctor and usurp that doctor’s right to exercise their conscience, their training, and what they know that patient needed.”

Hall said it’s something “we need to get to the bottom of” so that it doesn’t become “the norm” because the treatment isn’t only unhelpful but also causing harm.

The TN Liberty Network (TLN), an independent think tank, charted the financial incentives TLN said are driving the protocols.

According to its report (pdf), “hospitals are incentivized to vaccinate, test, diagnose, and admit COVID patients and report COVID-related deaths using add-on bonuses to push treatments such as remdesivir, dialysis, ventilators, and new ‘covered countermeasures approved for COVID.

Nurses such as Stacy Kay reported witnessing stories like Grace’s that left her “waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with chest pains.”

In an August 2022 interview with The Epoch Times, she said she, too, had seen “people die with their family watching via iPad on FaceTime.”

“I hated my job,” she said. “I hated going to work. I was stressed in a way I’ve never been before in my entire life.”

Since Grace’s death, Schara has brought attention to his daughter’s death through rallies, media interviews, and even a billboard campaign.

His most recent project is a podcast he hosts called Deprogramming with Grace’s Dad in which he shares his own research and interviews people such as author and documentarian Sean Stone—Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone’s son—as well as health care workers who have encountered medical corruption.

The Schara family's billboard campaign, 2022. Courtesy of Scott Schara

‘A Drug Combination None of Us Would Have Survived’

The lawsuit provides a detailed narrative of the circumstances surrounding the physicians’ decisions and why it’s alleged they were ridden with malfeasance.

“St. Elizabeth’s not only breached the Standard of Care, but their unethical behavior led directly to Grace’s death,” Schara said. “It’s clear to me that this hospital was a dangerous place for Down syndrome patients like my daughter. My Grace was discriminated against due to her disability and she received grossly subpar healthcare, in clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

In March, the Schara family and their attorney Joe Voiland gave a press conference across the street from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital announcing the lawsuit’s filing.

Voiland argued that, overall, physicians named in the lawsuit never gave the Schara family informed consent.

“There was a Do Not Resuscitate order placed on Grace without the family’s consent, and that’s why she is no longer here with us, and that’s why we’re going to be pursuing legal action starting today,” Voiland said.

Jessica Vander Heiden, Grace’s sister who was with Grace when she died, also spoke at the press conference, stating that her sister “was given a drug combination that none of us would have survived.”

Vander Heiden called for justice not only for Grace but also for others who have lost loved ones at the hands of medical tyranny.

“These crimes against humanity must stop,” she said. “They need to be held accountable for their actions.”

Schara said the lawsuit is the first of its kind.

“So far, no one in the entire United States has been held accountable for this, so this is a landmark case,” Schara said. “That’s why we’re individually listing the doctors and nurses because the hospital didn’t do this. People made choices, and those people have to be held to account. When those people are held to account, then other people across the nation will see the same thing, and they will be held to account.”

The Epoch Times contacted Ascension for a statement on the lawsuit.