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If you want to know what to do if your critically loved one in ICU has pneumonia and an undiagnosed infection and has been in an induced coma for 8 days now, what to do next? 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 today.

I have an email today from Sophia, who says:

“Hi Patrik, 

My 77-year-old dad got admitted on December 27th with pneumonia and an undiagnosed infection to intensive care, he’s in an induced coma for eight days. My family are not that assertive, but I am. 

He’s got bleeding in his stomach, blood clots on the lungs, and now he’s bleeding from the mouth. The meeting was scheduled for yesterday and postponed until today, now that time has been pushed forward for two hours. Are they hoping my dad will pass away, they would have to do nothing more. How can I help my dad?”

I’m very sorry to hear about just that situation, Sophia, here’s what you need to do as a first step.

First of all, you need to get a second opinion, you need to get access to the medical records, or you need a consultant or advocate, like myself, to talk to doctors and nurses directly and find out what’s really happening. For example, you got diagnosed with pneumonia and another undiagnosed infection. Have they done all the tests that need to go hand in hand with that? Have they covered him with broad spectrum antibiotics if they think it’s a bacterial infection? How are they treating the pneumonia? Have they targeted the right antibacterial or anti–fungal or antiviral medication?

If he’s got bleeding in his stomach and clots on the lungs, and bleeding from the mouth, here is what I think has happened, he’s got a PE (pulmonary embolism). They would have started him on heparin to counteract the pulmonary embolus. Now, they’re probably giving him too much heparin, and now he’s bleeding. Heparin is a blood thinner that’s given for pulmonary emboli, generally speaking.

Now they’re probably giving him too much, now he’s bleeding. It’s getting the balance right in how much Heparin you’re giving, basically getting rid of the PEs or the pulmonary emboli and also making sure a patient’s not bleeding either. 

With him having pulmonary emboli and pneumonia, what is his hemodynamic status? Is he hemodynamically stable? Is he on inotropes? Is he on vasopressors? How life-threatening is this situation? That is why you need to get access to the medical records as quickly as possible. You need to get a second opinion for someone to look over it. Very, very important.

In terms of the meeting that was postponed until today, now the time has been pushed forward as answers are all over the place. Are they hoping he would pass away so that they will have to do no more? Difficult to say without having all the details.

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.

When someone is in intensive care critically ill like your dad, there are dozens of things happening simultaneously. Unless you piece it together like a puzzle, it doesn’t give me a full picture here. Once I have an idea of what’s happening, like I said, is your dad hemodynamically stable? How much heparin are they giving? Is he on inotropes? Is he on vasopressors? Does he need blood transfusions because he’s bleeding? What are his ventilator settings? Is he getting antibiotics? Is he getting antivirals? Is he getting antifungals? What are his blood results? What are his arterial blood gas results? There are many things that need to be addressed here, and we need to find out in order to point you in the right direction. 

As far as the meeting is concerned, get a meeting agenda in writing. Don’t go to the meeting if you don’t agree to the agenda. I also wouldn’t go to a meeting unless you have full access to the medical records, and you can get a second opinion, that’s when I would go to a meeting. You have grave concerns, they’re hoping he would pass away. I don’t know. They might be doing all the right things, but I wouldn’t know until I’ve seen the medical records. I hope that helps.

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

We have helped hundreds of members and clients over the years, and you can join the family of members and clients that we’ve helped over the years to improve their lives instantly, making their loved ones get the best care and treatment in ICU because you can make informed decisions, you have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

That’s also why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, whichever meeting 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 with you or on your behalf and ask all the questions you haven’t even considered asking. This is exactly the case today with Sophia. Sophia doesn’t even know what she’s asking or what she needs to ask for. That’s where our expertise comes in. 

I also represent you in family meetings with the intensive care team. That’s also Sophia’s situation today. You’re meant to go into a family meeting. I wouldn’t go into a family meeting without having clinical representation from a consultant and advocate like me. 

We also do medical record reviews in real-time so that you can get a second opinion in real-time. Once again, that’s exactly Sophia’s situation today. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or suspecting medical negligence. 

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers at the top of our website or send me an email at [email protected] with your questions.

We also have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can become a member by going to intensivecarehotline.com. 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. We answer all questions intensive care-related there. You also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that are only accessible to our members. All of that will help you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence so that your loved one gets the best care and treatment always.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers at the top of our website or send us an email at [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 the video with your friends and family, and comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have from this video.

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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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