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

Today, I have another testimonial from one of our clients that we worked with in recent weeks. The client had their 46-year-old brother in ICU with Down syndrome after a stroke. He ended up in ICU ventilated with a breathing tube. The ICU was adamant that someone with a Down syndrome should not have a tracheostomy and that he should just be “palliated” and move towards end of life because he wouldn’t have any quality of life if he was to survive this episode in ICU.

The family reached out to us and asked us for a second opinion. What we advised at the time was clearly that if they were deciding to end their brother’s life, you would be certain of the outcome. You would be very certain of the outcome; it would end his life.

Well, the reality is that if someone can’t be weaned off the ventilator within Day 10 to Day 14 with a breathing tube, the next logical step would be to do a tracheostomy. ICU didn’t want to pursue that because once again, they perceived that our client’s brother wouldn’t have any “quality of life.”  What is quality of life? That is in the eye of the beholder and not up to a medical team to decide.

Cutting a long story short, we got on a call with the ICU team at the time with the client and we were advocating for the client saying, “Look, if you end this patient’s life, you know the outcome. If you don’t end the patient’s life and you give him a chance of a tracheostomy, he will have a chance to improve.” ICU was still adamant saying, “Well, he won’t improve.” They were certain about that, as if they had a crystal ball, as if they can predict the future.

Cutting a long story short, he had the tracheostomy, and yesterday I had a phone call from the client thanking us for our service, and saying, “Look, you’ve probably saved another life by helping us advocate for our brother and he’s improving now, even with a stroke.” I always find it very hard to believe that ICUs claim they know everything, and they know the outcomes of patients when we know nothing. You can make predictions for sure; everyone can make predictions. Whether they are accurate or not, only time will tell.

Like I say, and I have been saying for a long time, number one, what’s the urgency in killing someone in ICU? Where’s the urgency? Please explain to me, please leave your comments. Where’s the urgency to kill someone in ICU?

Number two, you just don’t know the outcome until you give it a go.

Number three, there’s plenty of time to talk about end of life in ICU. There’s plenty of time if things don’t work. If you have tried all avenues, if you’ve tried all options, you can still talk about end of life, if that’s then the next logical step. But until you’ve tried, you just don’t know.

Also, let’s just say this gentleman can’t come off the ventilator. There are services like Intensive Care at Home now. I encourage you to go to intensivecareathome.com and check out our website there where we send critical care nurses into the home to provide a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in intensive care.

That is what can happen sometimes when patients have a tracheostomy in ICU, they might end up in ICU long-term and then the next steps need to be mapped out. But there are services out there like Intensive Care at Home now. Go and check out intensivecareathome.com for more information. So, there are avenues in this day and age to manage situations like that even if patients can’t come off the ventilator.

Once again, there’s prejudice in potentially treating patients with a disability like Down syndrome. Maybe the ICU team didn’t see this life as valuable as other lives, which I strongly oppose against. Every life is valuable, doesn’t matter who they are. Every life needs to be protected.

I’ve worked in critical care nursing for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in ICU. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy, just like in today’s testimonial. But also, you can look up our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can also look up our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we’ve done client interviews who can verify the work that we are doing and that we have done in the past, saving many lives.

That’s why we have helped hundreds of members and clients over the years, and that’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com if you click on the membership link, or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in the membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related. In the membership, you will also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. All of the information and access to me and my team will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, so that your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. Case in point, that is exactly what our testimonial was about today. If this family had gotten it wrong and they would have agreed to end of life, their brother would be dead now. You can’t afford getting this situation wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly like I’ve done in this situation with our testimonial today. I did speak to doctors and nurses directly and successfully advocated for our client because I understand intensive care inside out. You need to have someone that understands intensive care inside out. Most people don’t. It’s a highly specialized area. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly, I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

If you like my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on a show and you will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my email newsletter or if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel or the email newsletter that you can subscribe to at intensivecarehotline.com.

Thank you so much for watching.

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

Take care for now.

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