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If you want to know what quality of life might look like after a C6 and C7 spinal injury in intensive care, stay tuned.

Hi, my name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I have another quick tip for families in intensive care today for you.

I’ve got an email from Lee who says,

“Hi Patrik,

My dad fractured his C6 and C7 spine last Wednesday. He had an operation Friday morning to stabilize his injury, and they will do another surgery if he is able to in a few weeks. However, they said they can’t get him to breathe enough on his own and he’s sedated with lots of painkillers.

Today was Day 3 and they were talking about being very bleak for him and his quality of life. I feel they were very pushy to get things going and are already giving up on him. He’s moving his arms when they reduced the sedation. He’s opening his eyes, he can hear us and can nod, but they said he can’t follow instructions. I think they’re not giving him enough time at all to come out of everything. My dad is 80.”

Well, thank you so much, Lee, for sending through your email.

Now, with C6 or C7 spinal injuries, the good news is they are doing surgery, and they can stabilize the injury. That’s good. There are people living in the community with C1 or C2 spinal injuries and they’re ventilated with the tracheostomy. They want to live and they’re very happy to be alive.

So, your dad having a C6 and C7 spinal injury and the ICU team saying that he might not have any quality of life is just a whole lot of nonsense. It’s just creating this negative narrative that you and your family and your dad don’t need. Their job should be to move your dad forward and progress his care and his recovery. That should be their job and let your dad make his own decision what he wants to do.

In the meantime, you are the one making the decision as the next of kin or power of attorney. You are his voice, and you are his advocate. So, if they are saying they can’t get him to breathe enough on his own and he’s sedated with lots of painkillers, well, maybe they need to stop that. If they have done surgery now, hopefully the fracture is healed and hopefully he’s no longer in pain. So maybe let’s reduce the painkillers.

Also, it’s only Day 3, which is not a long time. So, talking about quality of life or I should say perceived quality of life is way too early and is also inappropriate because they’re making a judgment that they’re not really qualified in making.

Like some of you know, we are also running a service Intensive Care at Home and we are looking after patients with spinal injuries in the community and they want to live even though they’re on a ventilator with a tracheostomy.

I do believe in your dad’s case with a C6 and C7 spinal injury, he should be able to come off the ventilator regardless. So, what they should be doing is wean him off sedation, wean him off opiates and try and extubate him as quickly as possible so he can avoid a tracheostomy.

Now, if he needs surgery, he might need to get tubed again, there’s a risk for that. But if it’s a few weeks away, he should still be extubated to avoid a tracheostomy and getting off the ventilator as quickly as possible.

So, you are probably right in saying that they give you the perception they don’t want to give him enough time, but it is entirely up to you to advocate for that. We can help you with that by giving you a second opinion.

I have worked in critical care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all around the world here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013.

I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that by looking on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com or on our podcast section at intensivecarehotline.com where we have done interviews with families in intensive care with our clients.

That’s also why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care at intensivecarehotline.com. You can click on the membership link there and you can become a member, 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 via email and we answer all questions, intensive care related.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through the process. I also make sure you stay two steps ahead of the intensive care team, so they don’t manage you. So, you start managing them. I also talk to doctor and nurses directly and 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.

We also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams. We also offer 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 of critically ill patients 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 the show and you get notified for that if you are a subscriber of my YouTube channel or if you are a subscriber of our email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com.

Thanks 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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