Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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

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

“Hi Patrik,

My daughter is on a ventilator and the doctors are saying she can’t be weaned off the ventilator. She’s also on dialysis.  They are suggesting she should do hospice care and turn off the ventilator and let her die. My daughter wants to leave. What should I do?”

Well, clearly, there’s a mismatch in expectations. The ICU team is telling you your daughter should die and they’re suggesting hospice.

Well, here’s number of things here, Alicia. Number one, as you would know, if you’ve read some of my blog posts or if you have watched any of my videos, the overwhelming majority of intensive care patients survive, about 90%. Some studies very slightly might be a little bit lower, but the odds are in your daughter’s favour. Now, you haven’t checked why your daughter is on a ventilator and you haven’t checked why they are suggesting she is dying and she should go to palliative care and hospice.

The first question I need to ask is, is it a real or is it a perceived end-of-life situation? A real end-of-life situation is no treatment, no surgery, no medications can save your daughter’s life, full stop. A perceived end-of-life situation is if there is a perception that your daughter might die. Now, what you haven’t said here is, instead of them talking about palliative care and suggesting hospice, have they looked at all treatment options? Have you gotten a second opinion, which is something we do here at intensivecarehotline.com. Have you done all the research? Have you looked at the medical records? More importantly, have you had a professional look at the medical records? Have you had a professional talk to the intensive care team with you and on your behalf, which is again, something we do here successfully at intensivecarehotline.com.

Also, if your daughter wants to leave and she has an advanced care plan, it is her choice and her choice only. If she’s not in a position to communicate that, then you as the proxy need to advocate for her, once again, this is something we can help you with here at intensivecarehotline.com.

You just need to look at our testimonial section. You can look at our podcast section with some client interviews that we have saved lives with our consulting advocacy. I’m very positive we can do the same for your daughter, assuming it is a perceived and not a real end-of-life situation.

Now, the other option here is to look at Intensive Care at Home. I don’t know whether your daughter has a tracheostomy or not, but another option is, if she can’t come off the ventilator, do a tracheostomy and go home with at Intensive Care at Home. You can find more information about that at intensivecareathome.com.

Intensive Care at Home, we are currently operating all around Australia, in all major capital cities and in rural and regional areas, but we can also help you in the U.S. and the U.K. privately. So, one way or another, we can help you here, Alicia.

So, like I said, your first task here is to get a second opinion which, once again, we can provide here at intensivecarehotline.com. We can look at medical records. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked in a situation like this. So, that is what needs to happen here before it’s too late.

Many families come to us when it’s too late. It looks like it’s not too late for you, but you need to get things going before the intensive care team is moving forward with moving to the hospice, which they can’t do legally if you exercise your daughter’s rights, just to be clear here as well. But many intensive care units pretend they operate in a vacuum when it comes to end-of-life situation and clearly, end-of-life doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens around policies, guidelines, laws, and procedures. Don’t let anybody else tell you any differently.

Because we get so many questions from families in intensive care every day all around the world, that’s why we created the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care at intensivecarehotline.com by you clicking on the membership link you can get access there or you get to intensivecarehotline.com 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. In the membership, you also get access to 21 exclusive eBooks and 21 exclusive videos that are only exclusively available for members. Those eBooks are designed and written for families in intensive care to help them navigate the territory.

Like I mentioned, I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy for families in intensive care over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to doctors and nurses directly. I talk to you and your families directly. I ask all the questions to the doctors and nurses 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 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 since 2013. Like I said, I can confidently and without any hint of exaggeration say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy and we can do the same for you, Alicia here.

Check out our testimonial section and have a look at our podcast section with some client interviews where we verify that we saved lives with our consulting and advocacy.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams that you have clinical representation, and they are making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment.

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 simply send us an email to [email protected].

Also, go to intensivecareathome.com for more information because this is a timely topic today in this video. So, go to intensivecareathome.com as well.

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

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.

Related Articles:

Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Weaning off VA ECMO and VV ECMO Simultaneously? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Extubation, Tracheostomy or Hospice? What is Best for My Loved One? Quick Tip for Families in ICU: The Difference Between “Ending Suffering” and Continuing Treatment! Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Wife’s in ICU with Cardiac Arrest & Tracheostomy, Can I Make Decisions? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: My 28-year-old Husband had a Liver Stab Wound & His Heart Stopped! ICU Wants to Stop Treatment, Help!