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

Today’s tip is about 5 things you need to know when it comes to withdrawal of treatment against patient or family consent.

So, let’s dive right into them without further ado, because this is a very important topic today.

Number one, if it’s against your consent or against your loved one’s consent, it’s against hospital policy. That’s number one. You can be certain of that, but the intensive care team won’t be explaining that to you.

Number two, it’s against laws. Whether it’s national laws, state laws, it’s illegal. It could be perceived as euthanasia. It could be perceived even as murder.

Number three, lack of transparency. I.e., you don’t have access to the medical records, even though you have asked for it numerous times.

Number four, they haven’t given you the option to get a second opinion for you. And that is imperative in situations like that.

And number five, you have not been given the option or the time to escalate it externally. I.e., you have not been given the time to seek legal advice, to speak to a lawyer or an attorney, to take it to court or similar avenues.

So that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, make sure you know about your rights. The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know their rights and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care. And that’s what we are here for at intensivecarehotline.com.

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

Like this video, comment below what you want to see next, or what insights or questions you have from this video, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and click the notification bell.

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