Posted on 06/25/2024 11:24:09 PM PDT by Morgana
A hospital accused of intentionally killing a teenage girl with Down syndrome has lost its last chance to dismiss, and the case will now move forward, in what her family says is a “first-of-its-kind” jury trial.
Earlier this year, the tragic death of Grace Schara came to light. In 2021, Grace died at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital; she had been given a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order without her or her family’s knowledge or consent; additionally, she was administered a cocktail of drugs — Precedex, Lorazepam, and Morphine — which are known to cause hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen in body tissues.
Grace had been diagnosed with COVID-19, but her family said she had been doing relatively well, despite being in the hospital. Yet they said hospital staff repeatedly tried to force ventilation on Grace without their consent, even as tests came back normal, indicating she didn’t need to be ventilated. Eventually, her parents were banned from being in her room at all. Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requiring the right to an advocate, and though her sister was on-site to serve as that advocate, Grace’s family said the staff made decisions for her supposed treatment without consulting them.
“No doctor or nurse came to me and said anything they were doing,” Grace’s sister, Jessica 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.”
On her last day alive, she was given lorazepam and morphine, though she had already been receiving Precedex for four days; Precedex is not supposed to be used for more than one day. “They gave Grace a combination of drugs that none of us could have survived,” Scott Schara, Grace’s father, said.
When Grace’s sister noticed Grace’s hands growing cold, she told the nurses, but was ignored; Grace soon had no pulse, and her eyes were rolling back in her head. Though her sister begged nurses to intervene, they did nothing, and Vander Heiden had to sit by, helpless, as Grace died at the young age of 19.
In Schara v. Ascension Health et al., a lawsuit alleges that five doctors illegally defied informed consent laws, and that they — along with two nurses — committed battery when Grace was killed.
According to the press release announcing the latest development, because the allegations against the hospital involve battery, this will be “the first time that doctors’ intentions come into play in this manner in a civil case.” Though attorneys for the hospital repeatedly tried to have the claims dismissed, Judge Mark J. McGinnis refused them all. “This case is ready to be tried in November,” he said.
It’s a decision applauded by Grace’s father.
“Our victory today to secure a jury trial for the battery claim in Schara v. Ascension et al. isn’t just our next step toward justice for Grace,” he said in the press release. “It’s a playbook for all Americans who have lost loved ones at the hands of what I, and many others, believe to be a medical establishment dangerously committed to harm—more concerned with incentives and penalties than patient health. Our case simply surviving today should send shockwaves across the nation, because we showed how to pierce the medical malpractice veil with a legal brief. Winning this claim will create a tidal wave—and a game-changing legal precedent.”
and were told that the death panels were all in Sarah Palin’s head and would never happen. well guess what.
This case probably hinges on if someone signed a DNR for her in the past and it was on file. That gives the doctors power to give her any treatment (or withhold treatment) without consulting anyone.
Killing patients because of a DNR is SOP for all hospitals. Like I’ve said in the past I would never sign one EVER.
When you talk to your doctor, you’re talking to the government. Something to bear in mind.
And EMRs make it so much easier to screw with medical records.
No paper trail to physically doctor.
Just a few keystrokes.
Why the heck haven’t criminal charges been brought?!
This homicide was premeditated murder.
This is just horrendous. BATTERY? REALLY? They murdered the poor girl!
The Democrats keep running into the same problem over and over.
They spew out their lies that they care about people, but they really don’t and every dollar spent helping someone else is a dollar they don’t have to buy their fourth condo in Hawaii.
Our facilities are currently taking precautions to help keep patients and visitors safe, which may include conducting screenings, restricting visitors and practicing distancing for compassionate, safe care. We continuously monitor COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and adjust our safety practices and safeguards accordingly.
I wonder if the CDC shares any culpability.
Iceland has eliminated Downs and other “defectives” by killing them before they are born. Tests are required”
Most of the people diagnosed with covid who died were killed by hospitals and doctors.
What an absolute disgrace. How can these so-called “medical professionals” sleep at night?
Thank you for posting that. I’ll keep you all informed on this case.
They would probably say it was a clerical error. Premeditation would be impossible to prove.
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