18 Facts About Dax Cowart

Donald Herbert Cowart, better known as Dax Cowart, was an attorney and a former United States Air Force pilot who served in the Vietnam War.

In 1973, Cowart sustained debilitating injuries from a propane gas explosion that resulted in the loss of his hands and eyes.

Dax Cowart suffered significant hearing loss, and was so severely burned over most of his body that the only place where his skin remained undamaged was on the bottom of his feet.

Dax Cowart said the doctors thought that if they forced him to receive treatment, he would change his mind and want to live, and that it would be the best outcome for him in the long run.

Dax Cowart disagreed and continued to hold the belief that it is wrong to force a person who is in full control of their faculties to receive treatment against their will; a violation of one's civil rights.

Dax Cowart became notable for the ethical issues he raised over the medical community's efforts to save his life against his wishes.

Dax Cowart's case is often cited in discussions of medical ethics.

On July 25,1973, Dax Cowart was a 25-year-old US Air Force Reserve pilot working with his father, a cattle rancher and real estate broker in Henderson, TX.

The surrounding trees and vegetation caught fire as Dax Cowart was showered with glass from the windshield.

Dax Cowart made his way out of the car and ran, breaking through three walls of fire, rolling on the ground after each one to extinguish his burning clothes.

Dax Cowart was given limited painkillers because of a poor understanding of their risks, and was denied access to legal assistance by which he might have forced treatment to end.

Dax Cowart's injuries required amputation of both his hands, leaving only a fragment of thumb by which he could grasp small items such as eating utensils and a cup handle.

Dax Cowart earned a law degree in 1986 from Texas Tech University.

Dax Cowart opened his own law practice, and later worked with trial attorney Robert Hilliard, founder of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLC.

Dax Cowart married Samantha Berryessa, a California attorney, and they lived on a farm in San Diego County.

Dax Cowart was a frequent teacher and speaker at the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming.

Dax Cowart spoke on patient rights in the US and abroad.

Dax Cowart died at the age of 71 on April 28,2019, from complications of leukemia and liver cancer, in Fallbrook, California.