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

So, one of our readers has written to us and said, “My mom is in ICU, she’s 67, and her liver is failing. The ICU team is asking what they should do if her heart stops, whether we want her to be resuscitated or not. They advise against resuscitation. What should we be doing?”

So that’s a great question to ask, and I guess it’s a dilemma that many families in ICU are facing. The question is, is it “in the best interest” for someone to be resuscitated in case their heart stops? What is the best advice? And many ICU teams will tell you that if the heart stops and they start full CPR, they might break some ribs and whilst that is accurate it might also save a life. You just don’t know.

I guess what it comes down to is what would your mom want and what do you want for your mother? Does she have an advanced care plan or an advanced care directive? If the advanced care plan or the advanced care directive says she wants to be resuscitated, then she needs to be resuscitated. If she says she doesn’t want to have CPR, then she shouldn’t have CPR. Now it really comes down to the wishes of the individual and that’s the bottom line. So have a think about it what your mom would want in a situation like that and take it from there. Your mom is only 67, which in my mind is very young. And she might want to be resuscitated. She may not. It really depends. And you should make that decision in the interest of your mom, and that’s all that counts.

So that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or simply send us an email to [email protected].

Also, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care, at intensivecaresupport.org. There you have access to me and my team 24 hours a day in the membership area and via email. Also, if you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care, you should contact us as well. We review medical records for patients in ICU during intensive care stays, after intensive care stays, if you are suspecting medical negligence in particular, or if you want closure about what’s happened.

Like the video, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, click the notification bell and share the video with your friends and families and comment below what you think or what questions and insights you have.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I’ll talk to you in a few days.