{"id":288378,"date":"2023-04-03T08:38:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T13:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=288378"},"modified":"2023-04-02T23:28:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T04:28:45","slug":"teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Grace Schara died at St. Elizabeth\u2019s Hospital. In a Facebook post<\/a>, the Schara family said Grace had been given a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order without their knowledge or consent. Additionally, they said Grace had been given a cocktail of drugs \u2014 Precedex, Lorazepam, and Morphine \u2014 which are known to cause hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen in body tissues.<\/p>\n

“As Grace slipped into acute respiratory failure and Grace\u2019s sister begged for help, instead of starting CPR immediately, the nurses refused; Grace\u2019s physician had independently designated her as a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ (DNR),” the family’s statement said. “That DNR order was written without the family\u2019s consent and in defiance of the Schara family\u2019s express wishes that all lifesaving measures be deployed for their Down [s]yndrome daughter.”<\/p>\n

The family has filed paperwork with the state of Wisconsin to begin the lawsuit process.<\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Elizabeth\u2019s not only breached the Standard of Care, but their unethical behavior led directly to Grace\u2019s death,\u201d Scott Schara, Grace’s father, said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear to me that this hospital was a dangerous place for Down [s]yndrome 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a website<\/a> set up to keep the public informed about the court case, the family spoke lovingly of their life with Grace. They say she referred to her third copy of the 21st chromosome as her “love chromosome,” and say that Grace’s Down syndrome didn’t stop her from doing anything.<\/p>\n

Both Grace and her mother caught COVID-19 during the pandemic, and though she was doing well, the family had been monitoring her oxygen levels out of excess caution. When they dropped below 90, they took her to the emergency room, where it was recommended that she be admitted into the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

“We never would have considered that this would be a dangerous place to put her in,” Schara said. He added that doctors tried to place Grace on a ventilator, citing results from a blood gas draw, but he asked them to run the test again; when they did, it came back within normal levels. Then, he said hospital staff began pressuring them to give a preauthorization to ventilate Grace if they felt it necessary; the family refused.<\/p>\n

By the fourth day of Grace’s hospitalization, Schara said the head nurse came in with an armed guard and told him he was not allowed to remain in her room anymore.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, because I was challenging the protocols I was seeing,” he said. “So I called an attorney friend, and he said, ‘Scott, just leave peacefully.’ And I gave Grace a hug… you know, I could just see in her eyes she was sad. That’s the last time I saw her.”<\/p>\n

Grace’s mother, Cindy, was not allowed to be with her daughter as a replacement advocate because she had COVID-19 as well, so Grace was left alone in the hospital for 44 hours. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Grace had the right to an advocate, so they tried to get Grace’s sister, Jessica Vander Heiden, approved as a replacement advocate.<\/p>\n

Still, there was allegedly poor communication.<\/p>\n

“No doctor or nurse came to me and said anything they were doing,” Vander Heiden said. “I had to overhear what they were saying. They were just making decisions on their own, without even communicating with Grace’s power-of-attorney, which was my mother.”<\/p>\n

One of the drugs they administered to Grace, Precedex, is not meant to be given for longer than 24 hours<\/a>; they had given her the maximum dose to Grace for four days<\/em>. Then, in her last day in the hospital, they added lorazepam and morphine, which Schara said is known to cause death.<\/p>\n

“They gave Grace a combination of drugs that none of us could have survived,” he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Vander Heiden noticed that Grace’s hands were growing cold, but nurses shrugged off her concerns. Eventually, she realized she couldn’t find a pulse, and her eyes were rolling back in her head. She begged the nurses to come help, but they refused; when the Scharas told them to help, they responded that Grace was DNR.<\/p>\n

Vander Heiden said she stood by helplessly as dozens of nurses stood by and did nothing as Grace slowly died.<\/p>\n

“We not only hope that justice will come for Grace but, also, for the hundreds of thousands of lives stolen by this medical tyranny,” Vander Heiden said at a press conference. “These crimes against humanity must stop. They need to be held accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed. In 2021, Grace Schara died at St. Elizabeth\u2019s Hospital. In a Facebook post, the Schara family said Grace had been given a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order without their knowledge or consent. Additionally, they said Grace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":288402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFamily says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/grace-schara-down-syndrome.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\"},\"wordCount\":842,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\",\"name\":\"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\",\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cassy Cooke\"},\"description\":\"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff","description":"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff","og_description":"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/grace-schara-down-syndrome.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassy Cooke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassy Cooke","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassy Cooke","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392"},"headline":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff","datePublished":"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/"},"wordCount":842,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Analysis","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/","name":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-04-03T13:38:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-03T04:28:45+00:00","description":"A Wisconsin family has announced plans to sue an Appleton hospital, claiming their 19-year-old daughter with Down syndrome was intentionally killed there.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/teen-down-syndrome-killed-hospital\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Family says teen with Down syndrome was intentionally killed by hospital staff"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392","name":"Cassy Cooke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cassy Cooke"},"description":"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288403,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288378\/revisions\/288403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}