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

Today, I want to talk about once again, DNRs in ICU and when they have a time, and they have a place. Now, DNRs in ICU or NFRs have a time and a place, and just for the terminology, DNR stands for “Do Not Resuscitate” orders or NFR for “Not for Resuscitation” orders. They have their time and their place in ICU, but they’re very rare when they have their time and their place. It’s pretty much when families or patients don’t want to be resuscitated and that is perfectly legitimate.

Now, the issue in ICU is that many DNRs or NFRs are issued without family or patient consent, let alone their knowledge. We’ve disclosed many of those situations, I have disclosed even those situations when I worked in ICU when I realized I was looking after patients, I’d have a DNR or an NFR without patient or family knowledge, let alone without their consent.

Anyway, so because we’ve been disclosing this for many years here on the intensivecarehotline.com blog and videos and podcast, I want to point out a recent case that one of my associates has made me aware of.

There is a gentleman in Wisconsin Scott Schara. His daughter, Grace Schara, died in ICU I believe in October 2021. There is a website that Scott has launched. I think if you Google Grace Schara, you will find a lot of really good information around, a very, very sad case.

Now, Scott claims in his videos that his daughter was murdered because he disclosed that she had a DNR that he wasn’t aware of it. He only found out afterwards after she had passed away and he never consented to it.

His daughter had special needs. She was only 19 years of age and pretty much confirmed what we’ve been saying here for the longest and there are other people now coming forward as well where they have lost loved ones, especially during the pandemic. But also, we have been blogging about this way before the pandemic. This has been happening before the pandemic, but now during the pandemic, it looks like more and more people are coming to the forefront where they realized, ICUs are very unethical, or some ICUs are very unethical.

There’s a lot of good ICUs out there, but some ICUs are very unethical, and they haven’t done the right things, and it cost the lives of very young people. In Scott’s case, his 19-year-old daughter. Again, check out Grace Schara and Scott Schara.  Scott says on one of his podcasts that he believed that he was a trusting Christian. He trusted the system, trusted people, and his trust has been shattered really with the loss of his daughter.

In any case, what does that mean for you if you have a loved one in intensive care? What it means for you is you can’t be taking your finger off the pulse for one minute. You cannot get away without doing your own research because if you do, the intensive care team might blindside you by either only telling you half of the story or by not telling you the right things at all.

You need to know what to look for. You need to know what questions to ask because if you don’t, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle and you will never be in a position to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control power, let alone influence.

So, this is an unfortunate reality. I’m not trying to be pessimistic here. But what I am saying is you need to take responsibility for your own outcomes. You’ve got all the information at your hand here at intensivecarehotline.com to help you with what to look for.

If you do need help, if you have a loved one in intensive care, I urge you to reach out. Contact us 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].

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 the membership area and via email and we answer all questions, intensive care related.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, via Zoom, via Skype, WhatsApp, or whichever medium works best for you. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I represent you in family meetings.

We also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can 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, please contact us as well.

If you are finding these videos valuable, subscribe to my YouTube channel, click the like button, click the notification bell, comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have from this video, and share this video with your friends and families.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care for now.