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

So, today’s tip is again about a question that we had from a reader. And our reader says, “The ICU says that my dad needs to have a tracheostomy and a PEG before he’s woken up and can be taken off life support. He’s in the hospital for eight days and heavily sedated.” What a great question to ask.

Now, let me start with what I keep saying over and over again, which is, that the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is 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 on top of that intensive care teams are notorious for only telling families in intensive care, not even half of the story case in point.

So, when I talk to doctors and nurses directly, when we set up a three-way call with our clients, for example, or when I’m representing families and our clients in family meetings with intensive care teams, I always tend to ask questions that families didn’t see coming and ICU teams didn’t see coming as well. ICU teams know how to keep families at arm’s length because families don’t know what to look for and they don’t know what questions to ask).

Intensive care is such a highly specialized area that unless you’ve worked in the industry for decades, like I have, you don’t even know what to look for. You don’t even know what questions to ask, and you certainly don’t know what intensive care teams are trying to hide.

Now, let’s go back to the question from our reader. If your dad has been in ICU for eight days and they’re already talking about a tracheostomy and he’s heavily sedated, the question is, why is he so heavily sedated? And why can’t they take off the sedatives right now? What’s stopping them?

Again, you haven’t shared with me why your dad is in ICU. I wrote a very popular article a few couple of years ago which I highly encourage you to check out. And the article is “How to wean critically ill patients in intensive care off the ventilator and the breathing tube”, because that’s really what you are facing here. It’s one thing to say, your dad needs a tracheostomy and a PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy) tube. Another thing to say, is the intensive care team doing everything beyond the shadow of a doubt to avoid a tracheostomy, get your dad off the ventilator and avoid the tracheostomy in the first place because that is the ultimate goal.

Yesterday, actually on Sunday my time, Saturday in the U.S., I actually did a YouTube live and the YouTube Live topic was “Why is there a negative impression of a tracheostomy? I thought it was part of the course in ICU” It is not part of the course in ICU.

So go and check out the YouTube live stream that I did. And you can watch the replay of course because yes, a tracheostomy has its time and its place, but it should not be part of a normal course. The normal course is actually to wean someone off the ventilator and the breathing tube. That is the normal course.

And that should be achieved at any given time. Now, your challenge here is once again, what is the intensive care team doing to avoid the tracheostomy and wean your loved one off the breathing tube beyond the shadow of a doubt. And I can find that out for you, of course, by talking to them directly or by looking at medical records or by doing a combination of all of that.

So, I hope that helps. I tell you when things change in ICU for families and for you or for anyone asking questions, things will change for you when you take responsibility. That’s when things change for you. Many families in intensive care are dabbling along. They’re scared, they’re scared to ask questions. They’re scared to look at what’s really happening in intensive care.

And the minute you take responsibility for everything that’s happening or not happening, the minute you take responsibility for the outcomes you’re getting with intensive care teams, the minute you take responsibility for how you negotiate with them, the minute you take responsibility to get professional advice, that’s when things are changing. Everything else is just wishful thinking. Don’t live in a world of wishful thinking, live in a world of reality, take action, take responsibility, and that is when things will actually change.

So, look, I’ll put a link below this video to the article “How to wean a critically ill patient in intensive care off the breathing tube and the ventilator”? I’ll also put a link to my YouTube live from yesterday so you can actually gather more information.

Now, if you have a loved one in intensive care, go to 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.

Also have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There, you have access to me and my team 24-hours a day in a membership area and via email and we answer all questions intensive care related.

Also, I offer 1:1 consulting and advocacy over the phone via Zoom via WhatsApp, whichever medium you like. And I can also talk to the doctors and nurses directly, getting real outcomes for you because you will see that I will ask questions. You haven’t even considered asking and you will see that when I ask questions that the intensive care team has just been playing games with you and it’s trying to keep you at arm’s length because you don’t know what you don’t know.

Also, we review medical records in real time for families in intensive care to give you a second opinion in real time. And we also offer medical record reviews after intensive care, especially if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure or if you are simply suspecting medical negligence, we can help you with all of that.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below what you want to see next, and what questions and insights you have from this video.

And also have a look, I do weekly YouTube lives. Get on our email subscriber list at intensivecarehotline.com.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care for now.