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If you want to know if you should get a second opinion when you have a loved one critically ill in ICU with COVID pneumonia, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you.

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

So, I have an email today from Tammy who says, 

“Hi Patrik, 

Unfortunately, I found your services at intensivecarehotline.com too late and my mother passed away. She was admitted to ICU with COVID-related pneumonia, which she had been fighting for over a month. She was placed on a ventilator, big mistake, and developed a pneumonia due to a bacterial pneumonia. A hospital-acquired infection, of course. So much of the scenarios you present in your videos are exactly what we went through, and I wish I had discovered your service sooner.”

So, first off, thank you so much, Tammy for writing in and I’m so sorry to hear that your mom has passed away.

Getting a second opinion in a situation like that is always, always important. You don’t want to just blindly follow the herd. You don’t just want to blindly follow the intensive care team without getting a second opinion. Whilst putting a critically ill patient with COVID pneumonia on a ventilator requires careful consideration, whether it was a big mistake or not, I wouldn’t know.

Let’s just quickly look at whether putting a critically ill patient with COVID pneumonia on a ventilator should happen and what is the decision criteria because it’s a complex decision and while it can save lives in some cases, it is certainly not without risk.

Let me give you some context here why ventilation may be necessary. 

Well, first of all, because of severe oxygenation issues. When a patient’s lungs are so inflamed or filled with fluid that they cannot maintain oxygen levels despite non-invasive support, i.e., high flow nasal cannula or BIPAP (bi-level positive airway pressure), intubation and mechanical ventilation may be necessary.

Number 2, of course, is respiratory failure. In cases of worsening respiratory failure, a ventilator can help take over the work of breathing while the body heals.

What are risks and challenges of ventilation? 

Of course, Number 1 would be ventilator-induced lung injury. High pressures and volumes from the ventilator can cause further lung damage, particularly in inflamed lungs like those with COVID pneumonia. It can cause secondary infections, like you have described here, because prolonged intubation increases the risk of hospital-acquired infections, which was the case in your mom’s situation, such as ventilator associated pneumonia, what’s known as VAP.

Number 2, of course, difficulty in weaning off critically ill patients may struggle to come off the ventilator due to muscle weakness, lung damage, or other complications.

So, what are alternative strategies? 

In many cases, medical teams now aim to avoid or delay ventilation using methods like high flow nasal cannula, delivers high oxygen concentrations without intubation, which is really effective in some situations. 

Non-invasive ventilation, of course, like BIPAP, which can support breathing without a tube. 

Prone positioning. Having patients lie on their stomachs to improve lung function, which is something that happened during COVID on a large scale with patients for COVID pneumonia.

So, was it a mistake to have your mom on a ventilator or not? 

It depends on the situation. For some patients, ventilation is the best chance of survival. However, in hindsight, it’s probably easy to question decisions when outcomes are poor. Physicians make those choices based on the patient’s conditions, available resources, and the best information at the time.

If you’re struggling with this decision or want more clarity, I would highly recommend that you either discuss the situation with me or that we review your late mom’s medical records because it is very important not only to give yourself grace but also get closure, and that’s what we can help you with when we do those medical record reviews and give you closure.

But more importantly, you have acknowledged that getting consulting and advocacy would have been absolutely vital in your situation. We have saved many lives for families and for our clients in intensive care because I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in 3 different countries, where I’ve worked as a nurse unit manager in intensive care for over 5 years, and I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. 

I can confidently, very confidently say that we have saved hundreds of lives for our members and clients over the years with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com, and you can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews, and they will verify for you in interviews how and when we have saved their loved ones’ lives.

But it is really, really important to get a second opinion as quickly as possible. I can’t tell you how many families have reached out to us and are still reaching out to us like Tammy now, saying, “Oh, I only found out about your service now, my family member has passed away”, and they are in absolute distress. They realize too late that what you see is not necessarily what you get in ICU. 

But you need to have second thoughts from Day 1, not when it’s too late. You can’t follow intensive care teams blindly because they have their own agenda. Sometimes that agenda is a good one. Sometimes that agenda is not such a good one. You should always trust your gut and you should always trust your instincts of what people you’re dealing with and whether you’re dealing with an intensive care team that genuinely has your family member’s best interest at heart, or if they don’t. Always trust your gut and your instincts.

So, like I said, we have helped hundreds and hundreds of members and clients over the years to improve their lives instantly when they have a loved one critically ill in intensive care, making sure they make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure their loved ones always get best care and treatment.

That’s why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care, and I do that 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 cannot afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly, 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. 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.

We also have 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 have personally written and recorded. Those e-books and videos 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.

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, share this video with your friends and families, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have.

I also do a weekly YouTube Live where I answer your questions live on a show. 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.