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If you want to know when to stop treating your critically ill loved one with meningitis, pneumonia, AF (Atrial Fibrillation), and end-stage renal failure, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you. 

So, we are currently working with a client who has their mother in intensive care. She’s in her mid-50s, so very, very young. She’s currently in ICU with meningitis, pneumonia, AF, diabetes, and also with end-stage renal failure. This particular lady had a kidney transplant in 2018 and now she’s going into kidney failure again. She has actually had quite a few ICU readmissions in recent weeks and months, but she’s always come out fine.

By the way, my name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and this is another quick tip for families in intensive care.

She’s always beaten the odds. And as you know by now, if you’ve watched any of my videos, approximately 90% of patients in intensive care survive, so 9 out of 10 survive. So, the odds are actually in your loved one’s favor, and this lady has certainly shown that. Now, this time around, the situation seems to be more critical than during other times. It’s a reasonable question, would her mom want to go through this again? 

Now, interestingly enough, throughout all her other ICU admissions in recent months, she doesn’t actually remember anything. She doesn’t remember going through treatment and potentially some suffering. She doesn’t even remember that, but she’s always come out good. 

This time around, the family has second thoughts and thinking, “Okay, do we need to limit treatment this time around because mom’s been through a lot, what should we do?” They are all reasonable questions.

Now, the question comes up, she would need to go on dialysis because the kidneys are no longer working, by the looks of things. Since she’s been a recent kidney recipient, chances are she may go on long-term dialysis, and she may need to go on another kidney transplant. Those might be realities for this lady, and you have to weigh up, “What would my mom want?” If the discussion hasn’t taken place before she went into ICU, then it’s difficult for families to make decisions here.

My advice here is this, if you know that your family member didn’t remember anything from the previous ICU stay and they were lucky or happy to be alive, why wouldn’t you do the same? If you think that your family member is suffering and they don’t want to suffer, and they mentioned to you prior to going into hospital or into ICU and saying “Look, I don’t want to suffer. I don’t want to go through hell again”, then those are all also reasonable considerations. Then you might have to think about, do you want to put your mom on a DNR/do not resuscitate? Is that what she would want?

But by the same token, let’s just take another scenario. This particular lady, she’s on a lot of cardiac medications. She also had some seizures as part of the meningitis, and she’s now on anti-seizure medication. She never had seizures before. The meningitis and the neurological condition are coming out of nowhere. There’s a lot of things going on. 

One thing is for sure, and I’ve been saying this for the longest here, if you give up and you let your loved one die, you know the outcome. If you don’t give up and you continue treatment, you don’t know the outcome, but you’re giving your family member a chance.

If they’re suffering and you don’t want them to suffer, and they have clearly specified they don’t want to suffer, then maybe it’s time to start with a DNR and start talking to palliative care what the options are, how it’s being approached, and whether you think it’s the right approach. Start thinking about it. But just keep in mind that if you go down the track of palliative care, hospice care, end-of-life care, there’s no return from that. Just keep that in mind. 

My advice is always make decisions today that you don’t regret in 12 months’ time, in 24 months’ time. I can tell you from experience, we have many families reach out to us here at intensivecarehotline.com, and they want us to do a medical record review. Their loved ones have passed away, and now they’re having second thoughts, thinking “What if…?” Don’t be that family, don’t be in that position.

I do believe, for your own peace of mind, it’s better if you go all the way, that will help you with your own peace of mind because there are two outcomes, the one outcome is your loved one is going to survive, or they’re not going to survive, but at least you’ve given them a good shot. Just keep that in mind at all times.

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

We’ve been consulting and advocating for families all around the world. I can confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com, or you can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section. In our podcast, we have interviewed some of our clients that can verify that we saved their loved one’s life. We have some ex-ICU patients on our podcast too. I encourage you to check that out.

We have helped hundreds of members and clients over the years. I’ve looked after thousands of critically ill patients and their families, whether in ICU or here with intensivecarehotline.com, and that’s why we created the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care.  You can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, click 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.

You also have exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. All those resources will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, so that your loved one gets the best care and treatment always.

I also do 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 handhold you through this once-in-a-lifetime situation that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly, I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care. I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real-time so that you can get a second opinion in real-time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are 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, share this video with your friends and families, and comment below what you want to see next, or any questions and insights you have from this video. 

I also do a weekly YouTube Live, where I answer your questions live on the show. You will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my email newsletter or if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel.

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.

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