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

Today’s tip is about a question that we get quite frequently. And the question is, “What if my loved one is staying in an induced coma for too long?” Well, what a great question to ask!

Obviously, as you’ve heard me say before, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply 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. And this is exactly one of those questions where you know what you need to look for.

So, when someone is in an induced coma for too long, you need to find out, why are they in an induced coma? What led them to go into induced coma? Was it a pneumonia? Was it cardiac arrest? Was it cardiac surgery? Was it trauma? Was it COVID? The list is endless.

So, you need to find out, why your loved one went into induced coma? Then you need to find out, what keeps them in the induced coma? Is it potentially a stroke? A brain injury? Is it the sedatives? Is it the wrong sedatives? Is it too many opiates, such as fentanyl or morphine? Are they using long-acting sedatives, such as midazolam or Versed?. Or short-acting sedative, such as propofol? Are they trying to wean your loved one off the ventilator? And the list goes on.

So this is just a quick snapshot. You need to look at chest X-rays, arterial blood gas results, and blood results. In general, you need to look at the whole scans that have been done.

So it’s really like piecing together a puzzle before you can answer such a general question.

So that is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to 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, have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org .

We also provide medical record reviews for patients in intensive care or after intensive care. If you think you want us to look for medical negligence, for example.

Like the video, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, also our weekly YouTube livestream where I answer your questions. Share this video with your friends and families and click the notification bell.

Thanks for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I will talk to you in a few days.