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If you want to know what you need to do if your mom is in ICU, had a cardiac arrest, and is unable to be ventilated just after one day in ICU, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you today. I’ve got an email from Camille.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, I’ve got an email from Camillie who says,

“Hi Patrik,

My mom has been in and out of the hospital for the last 6 months. She has Stage 4 lung cancer with collapsed left lung, tracheostomy, has a PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) tube . She had started to walk again, eat, and speak with a speaking valve, but she was recommended that she go back to the hospital for blood coming out of her tracheostomy from the SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility).”

She was at SNF, stands for Skilled Nursing Facility. By the way, we would never ever recommend for your loved one with the tracheostomy and the ventilator  to go to a SNF or a skilled nursing facility that is sheer and utter madness. It’s a skilled nursing facility. It’s basically a nursing home and nursing homes can’t look after ventilators and tracheostomy, which is clearly what Camille is confirming here. I’ve made countless of other videos where I’ve given warnings why your loved one should not go to a SNF.

“So, after the day one at the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest due to not being able to ventilate from the blood clots coming out of the tracheostomy. The ICU doctor told us she was not going to make it through that night.”

Now, if I had a dollar for every email and phone call that I had over the years where families in intensive care tell me their loved one isn’t going to make it in according to ICU teams, I would be a very wealthy man.

The reality is that most patients actually do survive intensive care. It’s actually 90% of intensive care patients that approximately survive. So why should your mom not be that in the 90% bracket? That’s the first question you need to ask her right away.

Let’s continue with the email.

“So, the ICU doctor told us she was not going to make it through that night. Now, after one week. So, she’s already survived for another week. They tried to put in a stent in the trachea, but we’re unable to do due to blood accumulating in the left lung. They also found out there’s a tumor there as well during the bronchoscopy. They recommended that she put in comfort care and hospice, but we refused as my mother’s wishes are to continue treatments.

After three weeks, she was transferred into the step-down unit and is fully awake and alert. We’ve asked about her cancer treatments, but no one is giving us any answers or any other recommendations. The case manager has reached out to us to talk about looking for an LTAC (Long Term Acute Care). What should we do?”

Thank you, Camille, for reaching out and I’m so sorry to hear about your mom’s situation.

Well, here’s the good news. They told you she would die and she didn’t. You have to question the clinical judgment of the ICU team straight away. You have to question straight away, what are their motives? Are there any ulterior motives? Why are they telling you she’s going to die? Very relevant question.

Next, before I break this email down, do never ever go to an LTAC or a SNF. Never ever. And there are ways to never go. We’ve helped so many families in intensive care over the years to not let them go to an LTAC. We have proven strategies to achieve that.

Obviously, LTACs and SNFs are U.S. specific. So, obviously Camille is in the U.S. LTACs and SNFs are specific locations and facilities in the U.S. and I’m not going into too much detail, but I want you to take away from this video if you are in the U.S., do never ever agree to go to a SNF or to an LTAC. That’s what I want you to take away from this video.

Now, “They tried to put in a stent to the trachea which makes sense, and they couldn’t because there was too much blood accumulating in the left lung.” Now, I haven’t seen any CAT (Computed Tomography) scans, or X-rays. I wouldn’t know whether that is accurate or not. We would need to look at the medical records if you wanted us to ascertain whether that was an accurate move from them and in the best interest of your mom or not, I wouldn’t know. But we can find out by looking at medical records.

Now, you’re also saying, “They also found out that there’s a tumor there as well during the bronchoscopy. They recommended that she be put in comfort care, but we refused as her wishes are to continue treatments and not go to hospice.” Well, if that is what your mom wants, then that needs to be honored, that needs to be respected. It’s not up to intensive care teams to make that decision. I’m glad you were standing your ground.

Also, your decision seemed to be right because now you’re saying after three weeks, she was transferred into the step-down unit and is fully await and alert. Remember the ICU team told you she wouldn’t survive one night in ICU. Once again, their clinical judgment has been absolutely incorrect.

Now, you’ve asked about her cancer treatments, but no one is giving us any answers or any other recommendations. What you need here is you need input from an oncologist or a pulmonologist, probably both. You need input from an oncologist and potentially from a pulmonologist, but good for you standing your ground.

You’re now officially in the 1% bracket of families in intensive care who make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence so that your mother gets best care and treatment always.

But I know we get so many phone calls and emails every week where families tell us, “Oh yeah, the ICU team has told us my mom’s not going to survive, my family member is not going to survive”, and they do. You have to question the clinical judgment.

They want to stay in control of the narrative, and they want to move patients toward end of life as quickly as possible and that’s just wrong especially when patients and families want to continue treatment. Health professionals are there to help patients and families not to work against them.

You have to question the agendas of hospitals. Why do they want people out either through hospice, let them die, or send them out to LTAC  as quickly as possible? LTACs are complete disaster areas, let alone SNF. It’s worse in SNF. Both are disaster areas. In any case.

You know what to do now. Don’t give up. If your mom is improving and she’s been there for three weeks after the ICU doctor has told you she won’t even survive one night. Well, well done for keeping her alive and that is what she wants, well done.

So, I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager in intensive care for over 5 years and where I have in consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com and we have consulted and advocated for families in intensive care all over the world.

I can confidently, very confidently say that we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com if you click on the testimonial section, or you can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast where we’ve done client interviews and you go to intensivecarehotline.com, you click on the podcast section then you can watch some videos and audio recordings with our client interviews.

We have helped hundreds and hundreds of clients and members over the years, improving their lives instantly, improving their loved ones’ lives instantly when they have a loved one, critically ill in intensive care. We can do the same for you and that is why we’ve 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 e-books and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. All of the access to me and my team and the e-books and videos will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, 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, 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. When I talk to doctor and nurses directly on your behalf or with you, whichever way you choose, I ask 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, and by me asking them, I hold them accountable. 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, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have.

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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.