Is it Legal to Ignore an Advanced Care Directive in ICU and Prematurely Do a One Way Extubation?

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So currently we’re working with a client who has their 82-year old mother in ICU, on a ventilator with a breathing tube and she has COPD.

So the ICU team is telling the family that the only way is to do a “one way extubation”, basically take their mother off the ventilator and let her pass away.

Now with no word has the family been educated about a tracheostomy, which is really the intensive care team withholding crucial clinical information that could potentially prolong the life of this 82-year old lady and our client’s mother, which is her wish. She has an advanced care directive about that she wants to have everything done.

So what does that tell you if you have a loved one in intensive care? It tells you that if you’re not asking the right questions, if you don’t understand intensive care, if you don’t know what questions you need to ask, you potentially foregoing crucial treatment options for your loved one.

Now, I’m not arguing, I’m not suggesting that this loved one, that this lady has a long time to live, but at the end of the day, it is her choice. And with services like intensive care at home now, a tracheostomy can be done. And then this lady can be taken home with intensive care nurses 24 hours a day, as opposed to be in ICU. And maybe this lady then can approach her end of life at home.

Also, another challenge that we’re finding at the moment is that with this pandemic, and with this healthcare crisis all around the world going on, we’re finding that many families in intensive care are locked out of intensive care and they can’t visit their loved ones just simply because ICU’s are scared that family members bring in the coronavirus.

So that means, families don’t really have any more opportunity to visit their loved ones and get critical information and we can help with all of that because again, we can set you up with the right questions, we can talk with the doctors on your behalf or with you, we can set up three way calls.

So we can really help you with that situation because we’re experts in intensive care and advocates, professional advocates for families in intensive care.

So that’s my tip for today. Check out our case studies at intensivecarehotline.com and call us on one of the numbers on the top of the website. If you have any questions or simply send me an email to [email protected]

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com.

Take care and look after yourself.