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

So, today’s tip is a question that I had from David who says,

“Hi Patrik,

I don’t know if my mom in ICU is actually dying. I don’t want to pull the plug if she has chances of surviving. Can you advise?”

Great, great question David, and similar questions we get all the time. Again, it comes back to what I’ve been saying for the longest that 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 that’s exactly what you’re up against and that’s also where I can help you very, very fast.

So, the first thing that you need to know if you don’t know if your mom is dying is you need to understand that approximately 90% of patients in intensive care survive. They leave intensive care alive. So, the odds are in your mom’s favor. That’s number one.

Number two, the intensive care team probably hasn’t even told you half of the story. When I consult with clients, one-on-one, and I talk to doctors and nurses directly or when we look at medical records, we’re often finding that they haven’t even told you half of what’s going on. Again, that comes to by me asking the right questions, by me knowing what to ask, by me knowing what to look for.

I have worked in intensive care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I also worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I have been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all over the world since 2013. You can look up our testimonial section and you can look up our podcast section where our clients give testimonials, and I can say without the slightest thing of exaggeration that we have saved lives with our consulting and advocacy.

I believe we can probably do the same for you just by more or less giving you a second opinion by looking at medical records, by talking to doctors and nurses directly, by making recommendations to you how to manage it, by looking at are they doing everything they can to save your mom’s life?

Let’s just take the worst-case scenario. Let’s just say your mom doesn’t survive or can’t survive for whatever reason. If she is in a real end-of-life situation as opposed to a perceived end-of-life situation, and you still want to have an end-of-life situation on your terms. Many ICUs now sort of it’s a one size fits all end-of-life. You want to have a say how that’s going to happen, where it’s going to happen, ideally when it’s going to happen, maybe you want your mom at home with a service like Intensive Care at Home.

There are millions of ways to approach situations in intensive care. I have looked after thousands of critically ill patients in intensive care, either at the bedside when I was working in intensive care, or now with my consulting and advocacy here where I talk to families of critically ill patients in intensive care every day, all around the world.

So, I really hope that helps to understand you, David, what your next steps are. It’s almost unbelievable that people watch my content, and they watch one video after another and then they don’t take action because I can see it from the emails that we’re getting. They are almost arrogant thinking they can manage it by themselves. They simply don’t have the insights, they simply don’t have the inside and knowledge that I have, and my team have how to manage intensive care teams, how to get best care and treatment.

I can help you with that very fast if you engage my service one-on-one to make sure you get best care and best treatment for your mom, but also for you and your family, but you get better treatment for you and your family as well when the intensive care team knows you have someone on your side that can help you and that understands intensive care inside out just as much as they do it.

If you don’t do that, you have no power, no control, no influence, and you won’t be able to make informed decisions. I get emails all the time where people say, “Oh my mom, my dad died in ICU. I only find out that consulting and advocacy is available now.” Again, if you’re not taking action, that’s your own fault. You need to take responsibility for outcomes. If you’re not taking responsibility for outcomes, it’s your own fault.

The best clients that we work with take full responsibility. They ask all the right questions. They take full responsibility for the outcomes. They’re taking full responsibility for the interactions they have with intensive care teams. They’re not making excuses and that’s how they get the best care and treatment and also get the best outcomes for their loved ones.

Now, in order to fast track your outcomes in intensive care for your loved one, we have created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care and you can get access to the membership and get your questions answered if you go to intensivecarehotline.com by clicking on the membership link or going 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, and we advise there daily.

If you are becoming part of our membership, you also have access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that are only accessible for members in the membership area that have so much value that all your questions are answered. You will know what to ask. You will know how to manage intensive care teams. It’s all in there but obviously me and my team advise in there as well.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy 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 and I asked all the questions to the doctors and nurses that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one in intensive care and that will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

Once again, I have worked in intensive care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years. I have been consulting and advocating here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013, getting excellent results for our client. Look up our testimonial section and watch the podcast interviews that we’ve done with clients. Again, I can say without the slightest hint of exaggeration that we have saved lives.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams, again, so that you don’t get walked all over and I make sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. I make sure the intensive care team knows you have someone on your team that understands intensive care inside out just as much as they do, understand all the dynamics, the politics, all the moving pieces which you need to understand to manage and get outcomes in such a difficult environment given you are in a once in a lifetime situation that you cannot afford to get wrong.

We also offer medical record reviews while your loved one is intensive care 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].

If you like my video, 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, what questions and insights you have from my videos.

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.