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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.
Today, I have an email from Ahmad who says,
“Hi Patrik,
I need to make a lawsuit against the hospital because they stopped life support, which is the feeding tube and the medications for my mom, and they pushed her to death instead. I signed the papers to take her out of the hospital and they refused.”
Well, Ahmad, I am very sorry to hear what you are going through. It’s very unfortunate that we get many of these emails and it’s very disappointing that some hospitals are simply not doing the right thing.
There’s a lot of good things happening in ICU and in hospitals. I have worked in ICU for nearly 25 years in three different countries. So, I am aware that there’s a lot of good things happening in hospital, but there’s also things happening that are clearly not good, and this seems to be one of those situations unfortunately.
But it also turns out that many clients have come to us are simply not informed. So, what do I mean by that? They’re not exercising their rights. They do believe that the hospital can do whatever they like, and end-of-life care does not happen in a vacuum. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is if you have an advanced care plan, that for example, is a legal document. If your advanced care plan says you want all treatment to be done, then the hospital has to comply with that. If the advanced care plan says, I don’t want everything done, hospital also has to comply with it. The bottom line is that it is a legal document.
Next, you can successfully intervene, and we have intervened successfully hundreds of times by now just by asking for what is right, not only that but also by reminding hospitals of the law. Once again, end-of-life care does not happen in a vacuum. Intensive care units are incredibly good, or hospitals are incredibly good in pretending that they can do whatever they like, and that is simply not the case.
End-of-life care once again, does not happen in a vacuum. I cannot stress that enough. It happens around policies, procedures, end of life care laws. There are processes if the intensive care team has just pushed her to death.
Now, you didn’t give too much detail here, and you wanted her in another hospital. It sounds to me like they didn’t help you to transfer her to another hospital, but it also sounds like you didn’t know what you didn’t know, and you didn’t know that there is help.
We help so many families to turn these situations around and you can verify that on our testimonial section if you go to intensivecarehotline.com and you click on our testimonial section, you will see what our clients say. The same when you go to our podcast section and you listen to some of our client interviews, they can verify that we saved lives.
So, it is also very important if you’re watching this and you are potentially in a similar situation, it is very important that you take accountability for results that you’re getting or for results that you are not getting. If you just don’t take responsibility for outcome, you will be fighting an uphill battle.
There’s always ways forward, there’s always things that you can do and must do in a situation like that. So, you’re not left with like Ahmad here and now you want to sue the hospital. Well, you should have taken action right to begin with.
Like I say over and over again when you have a loved one in intensive care, it is a once in a lifetime situation that you can simply not afford to get wrong. You cannot afford to like here, like it’s clear in this situation.
Because we want to help more and more families of critically ill patients in intensive care, that’s why we created a membership for our clients and for families of critically ill patients in intensive care that you can get access to if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, you click on the membership link or 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 by email and we answer all questions, intensive care related.
In the membership, you also have access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that are specifically designed for our members exclusively available for our members and the e-books and the videos are all about making sure that you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence so that your loved one gets best care and treatment.
I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever meeting works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I talk to doctors and nurses directly in intensive care. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams once again so that you make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.
We also offer medical record reviews in real-time so that you have a second opinion in real-time. We also offer medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are simply 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].
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.
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.
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