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

So today I was talking to a client who had their 28-year old daughter in ICU about two years ago and we have been asked to do a medical record review. So the reason we have been asked to do a medical record review is a very sad reason, that their 28-year old daughter at the time died in intensive care. And the story goes as follows.

Their loved one was in ICU with a breathing tube after pneumonia. They couldn’t get off the breathing tube and they were told the only option for their loved one is to basically die if they can’t come off the ventilator. They have never been told that tracheostomy is an option. To cut a long story short their daughter was eventually moved into hospice, where she was more or less euthanized. She was given morphine and midazolam and she eventually died in the hospice.

Now, that is euthanasia and euthanasia, as you would know, is illegal. Now, after having worked in intensive care for 20 years, you know, I can tell you for sure that intensive care team has not been transparent with the family because if somebody can’t come off the ventilator, especially in such a young age but even at an older age, the next step is to have a tracheostomy.

It really comes back to what I keep saying over and over again, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is that you don’t know what you don’t know. The intensive care team can tell you whatever they want. If you don’t start asking the right questions, if you don’t do your research, and if you don’t talk to professionals like ourselves here at intensivecarehotline.com, where we can help you step by step. Every step along this tough ride that it often is when you have a loved one in intensive care.

So imagine that would have come to us two years ago, we could have guided them, we could have advocated for their daughter to have a tracheostomy, she would probably be still alive to this day. So it’s a very sad story. Don’t get into that situation yourself, you know, there’s help out there, check out intensivecarehotline.com. Read our case studies and contact us either on one of the numbers on the top of the website or below this video, or send us an email to [email protected].

Like, comment, and subscribe to my video channel here on YouTube and I will talk to you in a few days.

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