Intensive Care Hotline

is instantly improving the lives for Families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care, so that they can make informed decisions, have PEACE OF MIND, control, power and influence and therefore stay in control of their Family's and their critically ill loved one's destiny

Contact Intensive Care Hotline
24/7 Phone Access
Need Instant Help? Call Now or... Make an Appointment

YOUR INTENSIVE CARE HOTLINE - Quick Tip for Families in ICU: The ICU Team Wants a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) for My Sister Even Though She’s Not Brain Dead! Can They Do That?

/ Patrik Hutzel - Critical Care Nurse Consultant / No Comments

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: The ICU Team Wants a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) for My Sister Even Though She’s Not Brain Dead! Can They Do That?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

If you want to know what to do if the ICU wants to make your family member a DNR (do not resuscitate), stay tuned! I’ve got news for you.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I’ve got another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So today, I’ve got an email from Cassandra who says,

“They want to make my sister a DNR even though she’s not brain dead. She’s in ICU.

What do I do?”

Well, Cassandra, that’s a very easy fix.

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, that’s exactly what you are dealing with.

Most families, as a matter of fact, I believe 99.9% of families in intensive care feel absolutely powerless. They really have no idea what to do next. Well, the bottom line is this, the hospital or an ICU can’t just make your sister a DNR. That’s not up to them, it is up to you and your family, assuming your sister can’t make her own decisions at this particular point in time. So, you just go back to them and say, “Well, we don’t want her to be a DNR (do not resuscitate).”

We’ve advised families in intensive care all around the world since 2013. This approach has always worked. ICUs are very good at pretending they can do whatever they want. They’re very good at that. But the minute you challenge them, you will see that they retreat and backpedal because they can’t. There are laws, there are rules, regulations, guidelines, policies, and procedures, they can’t just do whatever they want.

Keep in mind, this is a life-or-death situation, potentially. So, in life-or-death situations, people can’t just do whatever they want. Be very clear about that. Then, once you have the DNR removed or maybe it sounds to me like your sister doesn’t have a DNR just as yet, keep it that way. But even if your sister had a DNR, you could still remove it. Once again, it’s up to you and the family, not up to the ICU.

DNRs have their time and their place when someone is in a real end of life situation, not in a perceived end of life situation. In a real end of life situation, that’s when a DNR might be appropriate. But it sounds to me like your sister is not in a real end of life situation.

Once the DNR has been issued, I can tell you, I’ve worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years and where I’ve consulted and advocated for families in intensive care all over the world since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can assure you that once the DNR is in place, ICU will wind things down. They will no longer give your loved one best care and treatment. I can assure you of that, I’ve seen it over and over and over again. Therefore, it is so important that you do not give consent to a DNR, or that you don’t let them issue a DNR.

So, with our consulting and advocacy here at intensivecarehotline.com, we have saved many lives over the years. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section at intensivecarehotline.com. On our podcast, we’ve done some client interviews that verify that we’ve saved their loved one’s lives.

We even have a podcast where we have a former ICU patient on the podcast where they were told in ICU, they were not going to leave ICU life. Now, a year later, they were sitting on a podcast just to verify what is possible if you don’t give up and if you don’t give in into the doom and gloom and negativity of intensive care teams.

Because we have helped hundreds of clients and members over the years, 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 also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. In the membership, with all that information at your disposal, it will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, 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. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly. I ask them all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill 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 the 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, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video, and share the video with your friends and families.

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

 

BOOK YOUR FREE 15-MINUTE CONSULTATION NOW!

Related Articles:

Default ThumbnailQuick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: How Long to Wake Up After Multiple Gun Shots in ICU? Default ThumbnailQuick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Five Ways to Position Yourself if Your Loved One isn’t Waking Up After an Induced Coma! Default ThumbnailQuick Tip for Families in ICU: My Wife’s in ICU and I Can’t Get Information From the Doctors, Help! Default ThumbnailQuick Tip for Families in ICU: Not Knowing if I’m Doing All I Can & the Best for My Loved One in ICU Default ThumbnailQuick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: 58-year-old Dad isn’t Waking Up After Cardiac Arrest and ICU Wants to Withdraw Treatment, Help!