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

So, currently we are working with a client who has a 36-year-old brother in ICU after cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain injury. The intensive care team was adamant in the beginning that they should just extubate the patient, remove the breathing tube, and let him die because he’s “not having any future perceived quality of life.” Again, that’s just a perception. The family was adamant not to go ahead with that because they wanted to give him a chance. It was only Day 8 in ICU which is not a long time.

I have worked in ICU and critical care nursing for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013. We have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com or on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast where we have done client interviews.

Coming back to our client that we’re currently working with, so obviously, we advised the family not to agree to any withdrawal of treatment. Like I said, it’s all about putting things in perspective, eight days in ICU is not a long time. You can always reassess after maybe eight weeks, maybe after eight months. What’s the rush to kill someone in ICU? It’s a relevant question, and it’s a question that we need to ask in this current environment. 

So, cutting a long story short, now the client is actually waking up. Initially, his Glasgow Coma Scale was a 3, which means he was not responsive, he wasn’t breathing. Now, his Glasgow Coma Scale has improved, it’s probably more of a 6 to 7 now. He’s moving his arms, he’s thrashing around, he’s not awake yet but he’s opening eyes, he’s breathing spontaneously on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) and pressure support, which means he’s moving closer towards extubation. He’s got a gag reflex, he’s got a cough which means he can most likely protect his airway once he’s extubated, which also means he may not even need a tracheostomy.

The conversation has now shifted from, “Oh, we’re going to extubate a one-way extubation and let him pass away whilst he couldn’t breathe” to “Ok, let’s extubate him. Let’s see how things go and then look at rehabilitation as the next step.” For a 36-year-old man, that should be going without saying. Why are we talking about end of life for a 36-year-old man? Just because the ICU team thinks, “Well, he has no ‘quality of life’,” Also, they were using terms like he has no “meaningful recovery.” What’s meaningful for an ICU team might not be meaningful for the family. It might be very meaningful for the family to let their loved one live and see how things unfold. 

There’s plenty of time to talk about end of life if things don’t work out. There’s plenty of time, what’s the rush? What’s the urgency to end someone’s life? It doesn’t really matter whether someone is 36 or 86, it’s about value in life, in any form. If people then want to end their loved one’s life because they think, “Oh, that’s not what they would want.” Fair enough, but not after 8 days in ICU because no one really knows what the trajectory is going to be like. You definitely know what the trajectory is if you end life support, and you withdraw treatment, and someone is dying. You definitely know the trajectory of that and there’s no return from that as far as we know. There is plenty of time to talk about end of life. 

So, I think I can confidently say that we have saved another life for now, at least given the family time, once again, with our consulting and advocacy, with our advice, by empowering people to stand up for their loved ones and not let ICU teams walk all over them. That’s what we do here at intensivecarehotline.com. That’s one of the reasons why we have helped hundreds of clients and members at intensivecarehotline.com to improve their lives instantly by helping their loved ones in intensive care with consulting and advocacy.

That’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, by clicking on the membership link at intensivecarehotline.com or by going 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 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded, sharing all my 2.5 decades worth of ICU nursing experience with you, the member and families in intensive care, helping you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment so that you can influence decision making fast.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. 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 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. 

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or 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, and 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 and you will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel, or if you are a subscriber to our 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.

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