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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: My Dad Died in ICU with Sepsis and Pneumonia after Gall Bladder Surgery, Could He Have been Saved?

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

So today, I have an email from Rina who says,

“Hi Patrik,

Thank you for your website. The hospital did not tell us that my dad’s liver was lacerated during a gallbladder removal surgery. He ended up having sepsis and pneumonia after that. He was placed in an area for COVID patients, but we were not told. They would tell us they were treating the sepsis and pneumonia. He was given fentanyl, but we didn’t know what it was until I researched it.

The hospital kept asking for permission over the phone to do more procedures, sometimes saying when he gets better, we can remove this or that. They knew he wasn’t going to get any better. They knew he was dying.  My family is devastated, distraught to say the least.

From, Rina.”

Now, this email is actually from October 2023 and that’s how many emails I’ve got sitting in my inbox and it’s impossible for me to get to all of them, which is why you should be reaching out to us directly here at intensivecarehotline.com. If you need faster help than this, go to intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or send an email to [email protected].

Regardless, here’s my interpretation of this email. This probably happened during COVID. Like I have been saying for over 10 years now, 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. This is again another classical example of that families don’t know what they don’t know.

Unless you take full responsibility for what is happening, unless you take full responsibility to get a second opinion, unless you take full responsibility to ask the right questions, you are likely to end up in a situation like that where you realize, “Oh, my loved ones passed away. What is it that I didn’t know? What is it that I would have been able to control? What is it that I didn’t do?” This is a classic example of that.

Now, lo and behold, this obviously happened during COVID, and most hospitals would have locked out families which I strongly disagreed with. But this is obviously what’s happened, and that in this situation would have been even more important for you to get a second opinion, would have even more important for you to get access to the medical records.

You probably did get access to the medical records after it was too late, that’s what it looks like to me anyway. So, we can look at the medical records now if you want to and we can find out what exactly happened. But it’s devastating for families to find out 12 months later that there could have been advocacy, that there could have been consulting.

Yesterday, I just put out a video where I detailed how we successfully advocated for a patient to be extubated instead of having a tracheostomy.

Don’t leave it until it’s too late. Then families go online, they do their research and then they find our website and they realize, “Oh, help would have been at hand.” It’s very, very sad when we get emails like that.

But for you watching this who has a loved one in intensive care, don’t be a casualty. That’s terrible word, I know. But don’t be a victim, take responsibility and take action. That’s what it comes down to.

So, that it is my quick tip for today.

Be one step ahead, not two steps behind, which is what’s happened to this family, Rina, two steps behind unfortunately, when it’s too late.

Just one word, Rina mentioned he was given fentanyl. Your dad was probably on a ventilator with a breathing tube. They probably gave him fentanyl for pain management, and it’s a very strong opiate and it is addictive in nature.

So, you’re also saying the hospital kept asking for permission over the phone to do more procedures. Again, you should have done proper research before you gave consent to anything. You need to know what it exactly means, what are the side effects, all these things.

Anyway, because of getting so many emails and we are getting bombarded with questions for families in intensive care, that’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can get access to it and become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you’re clicking 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 and we answer all questions intensive care related.

If you are a member, you also have access to 21 videos and 21 e-books specifically written and recorded for you for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. I have written the e-books and recorded the videos to help you navigate this incredibly difficult territory that is intensive care and it’ll help you this information will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment.

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

I can say with much pride and without any hint of exaggeration that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy, and you can verify that on our testimonial section  as well as on some client podcasts.

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 talk to doctors and nurses directly and you will see that I ask all the questions to doctors and nurses in particular that you haven’t even considered asking, just like this family today in our example, they haven’t considered asking different questions.

It’s critically important that you ask the right questions because only then can you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. 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].

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 families, and comment below what you want to see next or what questions and insights you have.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer questions live on the show and you can ask questions there.

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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