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

So today, I have a question from Heather who says,

“Hi Patrik,

I have my brother in ICU. He was in a coma since the day after Christmas. They had him at another hospital two hours away. That hospital was trying to push us to remove his ventilation and let him go. They had told us he was unresponsive, wasn’t awake very often, and that he was brain dead. They said no activity, he wasn’t breathing on his own. We didn’t want to talk about brain death. So, we declined the topic.

He was moved back to the hospital locally three days ago. We went to speak to the care team, and he was awake. He was tracking movement with his eyes and would look to sounds. Now, with that being said, he wasn’t able to respond to commands, but it was his first day awake almost all day. He does jerk his feet away if you touch his toes or try to tickle. He will hold eye contact for short periods, then wander off from it.

I believe he has tried to acknowledge his statement once, but I’m not sure if it was just good timing for a weird “uh huh” sounding haunt to a very impactful statement from his oldest son. Also, we put his stepmom on the phone for him to hear. Again, I’m not sure if this was another perfect time not if a weird neurological response, but he had a face of upset and wanted to cry. Then, a single tear rolled down one cheek.

When I went to wipe that tear, he reacted with his eye as if he knew I was moving my hand nearby. He responds to touch, rubbing off the head, and his belly. Like a baby does his eyes roll like it feels good.

So, I’m not sure what is what. He overdosed and was laying there a long time. He does have brain damage from lack of oxygen for an unknown time. I’m just looking for answers and hope so we can make the right choices for him.

Thank you for all your helpful information on your website – https://intensivecarehotline.com/ and your YouTube channel.

From, Heather.”

I’m very sorry to hear what’s happened to your brother but the good news is he’s not brain dead and maybe he comes to the point where he can wake up and where you can ask him what he wants. Maybe he’s not coming to that point. I don’t know. It’s hard to say, it’s always hard to say where a journey like this goes.

One thing is for sure, if you give up and you remove life support, not that you’ve shared he’s on a ventilator still, but most likely he is. He might need a tracheostomy. He might need input from a cardiologist. He definitely will need input from a neurologist about recovery times, neurology, rehab, mobilization.

You can already see he’s slowly improving. So, why can’t he keep improving as it goes on here? Like I said, one thing is for sure. If you’re giving up and you’re not trying, the outcome is he might die, probably he’s going to die.

So, the question is how long is a piece of string? And what’s the answer to that? I don’t have the answer to it. But one thing is also for sure, if you think he wouldn’t want to live with a disability, then, that would be a different discussion as opposed to if you think he could live with a disability. So, he wanted to live no matter what.

So, you really need to base your decision based on what he would want if he could make the decisions for himself. I’m sure you have a good idea of what he would want, knowing your brother’s personality, and whatever else he might be saying, or he might have said in the past how he lived his life and so forth.

The only thing that will help you answer your burning questions, how to move forward, is really only time.

We have many families contacting us who agreed to withdraw treatment only after a few days or a few weeks in ICU and then 12 months later, they have second thoughts. They think, “Oh, what if I wouldn’t have agreed to withdraw treatment? Would my family member still be around? Did we do the wrong choice?”

So, you always have to approach these decisions from a point of view, would I regret this in 12 months’ time, in 24 months’ time? Once your brother has gone, God forbid, there’s no return from that as far as we know.

So, base your decisions on would I regret my decision today in 12 months’ time? That would be a really good point of reference here. So, I hope that answers your question, Heather.

Also, you should be going with your gut. You and your family should be going with your gut. What do you think is the right thing to do for your brother here, and what would he want?

But also get specialist input, if he had a heart attack or a cardiac arrest, or the overdose, but he went into cardiac arrest, has his heart taken damage? What does your neurologist say? Ask for neurology rehabilitation once he’s off the ventilator and hopefully can be weaned off the ventilator and the tracheostomy.

So, because we get so many questions for families in intensive care, that’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care that you can become a member of because, once again, we’re getting so many questions. This question was sent in January. But we’re having such a big backlog of questions to answer.

Your quickest way is just to reach out to us at the intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website was sent an email to [email protected]. I offer a 15-minute free phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp consultation. I do then have paid consulting and advocacy options or like I said, we do have the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care.

I 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 here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013.

I can verify and confidently say we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section or on our podcast section where we have done client interviews.

In our 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. You also have access to exclusive content, 21 e-books, 21 videos exclusively written and recorded for our members and those e-books and videos will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence when your loved one is critically ill in intensive care.

I also offer one-on-one consulting over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly, of course. I talk to doctors and nurses directly and I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked so that you can make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can get 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.

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

Thank you so much for watching.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on the show. If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ll get a notification for when the YouTube live is happening and when I’m on the show.

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.