Hospital COVID Protocols: The Grace Schara Case (WI)

July 10, 2025

https://imahealth.substack.com/p/hospital-covid-protocols-the-grace?

Hospital COVID Protocols: The Grace Schara Case

IMA Co-Founders Dr. Paul Marik and Dr. Joseph Varon are joined by Scott Schara and his attorney Warner Mendenhall to discuss medical advocacy, advance directives, and hospital accountability.
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Independent Medical Alliance
Jul 06, 2025

When Grace Schara died in a Wisconsin hospital during the COVID pandemic, her family began asking difficult questions about consent, protocol, and patient rights. This week, IMA Co-Founders Dr. Paul Marik and Dr. Joseph Varon are joined by Grace’s father, Scott Schara, and his attorney, Warner Mendenhall of Freedom Counsel, to revisit the case and discuss the broader implications for medical advocacy, advance directives, and hospital accountability.

We’ll explore the concerns raised around medication protocols, Do Not Intubate orders, and access to records—alongside the lessons learned about legal barriers, family involvement, and the importance of independent medical advocates. The conversation is shaped by IMA’s longstanding commitment to restoring the doctor-patient relationship and building safeguards that empower patients and families.

Whether you’re entering the hospital yourself or bringing a loved one for care, the assumption is that medical staff will do everything possible to help. But the tragic story of 19-year-old Grace reveals just how wrong things can go when trust breaks down, protocols fail, and communication vanishes.

Grace Schara entered St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Wisconsin with low oxygen saturation during the COVID pandemic in October 2021. Her father, Scott Schara, believed she would simply receive oxygen therapy and come home safely. Instead, Grace passed away just days later under circumstances that sparked outrage and questions nationwide.

In the years following, Scott’s grief turned to advocacy, ultimately leading to Schara v. Ascension Health, the first COVID-era hospital negligence case in America to reach a jury trial. The landmark lawsuit, concluded on June 19, 2025, lasted three weeks and was passionately argued by a dedicated legal team led by Warner Mendenhall and Freedom Counsel.

Despite compelling expert testimony and a deeply sympathetic case, the jury ruled in favor of the hospital. Still, Scott and Warner remain undeterred. Their fight for justice continues—and so does the urgent conversation their case has sparked. In this powerful webinar, they reflect on what went wrong, what patients and families need to know, and how all of us, providers included, can help prevent tragedies like this from happening again.

Misunderstandings: “Do Not Intubate” (DNI) and “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR)

Regardless of the jury’s verdict, the case has opened the door to vital lessons every patient, family, and provider needs to understand.

IMA co-founders, doctors Joseph Varon and Paul Marik, both experienced critical care physicians at Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), weighed in addressing the shocking failures in Grace’s care. They highlighted systemic misunderstandings around crucial terms like “Do Not Intubate” (DNI) and “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR).

Dr. Marik explained:

“DNR means when a person is dead… not to resuscitate them. That’s what it means. It doesn’t mean do not treat, do not manage. It’s only when a patient is actually dead, heart has stopped beating and they’re clinically dead, that you do cardiopulmonary resuscitation… the DNI part complicates the issue.”

Dr. Varon emphasized the critical role of open, honest communication:

“I’m sure that if somebody told you ‘do not intubate’ means ‘do not resuscitate,’ you would have said ‘go ahead and intubate right now.’”

Under any circumstances, it’s unreasonable to expect patients and families to decode complex medical terminology in moments of crisis. But COVID has made one thing painfully clear: we must be prepared to ask questions, advocate for ourselves and our loved ones, and demand clarity.  (See link for article and video)

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For more:

The hospital COVID scam via The CARES Act:

Hospital protocols killed people:

The concerted strategy to ban effective COVID treatment, allowing the clot shots to be deployed:

CDC monopolizes fraudulent COVID testing:

Category:

Activism, Supplements, Treatment, vaccines, Viruses

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