A poster at a news conference hosted by the Schara family March 30, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A jury sided with Ascension St. Elizabeth Hospital in a wrongful death civil lawsuit filed by a Freedom family.
Jurors heard closing arguments until about 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The verdict was read around 4:45 p.m. The landmark trial began June 2 at the Outagamie County Courthouse.
The family of Grace Schara, who had Down syndrome, sued Ascension St. Elizabeth Hospital for medical malpractice, claiming the doctors and nurses who cared for the 19-year-old violated her patient rights when they listed her as a DNR, or do not resuscitate, without the family’s consent.
They also alleged she was given a lethal cocktail of drugs that led to her death in October 2021 after she contracted COVID-19.
Family members alleged that when they asked doctors to step in and save Schara’s life, they did nothing. Ascension St. Elizabeth has denied those claims.
During the trial, both the attorney for the Schara family and the hospital went through the events that led to Schara’s death. Testimony from expert witnesses was provided to help the jury determine if medical malpractice was at play.
The Schara family said the hospital ignored clear overdose signs, while the hospital said its work with Schara was no different than any other patient.
“When we make a mistake, we need to own that mistake. Instead of owning that mistake, these defendants have spent three weeks now denying the obvious. Grace was overdosed,” said Warner Mendenhall, the Schara family’s attorney.
“This was standard, general ICU care in the management of these medications. If the plaintiffs had called anybody who had any experience titrating that, using this medication, they would know that,” rebutted Jason Frankowiak, an attorney for the hospital.
Schara’s family posted multiple billboards about the case.
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