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

So today, I have a question from a reader who says, “What should I determine when I give away my medical power of attorney to one of my children, what should be in there?” This is a fantastic question, especially the type of work that we are doing.

Now, my advice is you got to be very clear on what you want your power of attorney to do if, God forbid, you become incapacitated and you end up in ICU on life support, you are unconscious, you’re in a coma potentially, and you can’t make decisions for yourself. I would be as clear as possible.

Once again, 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, and that is exactly what you are dealing with here because it’s why it’s difficult to predict.

Having worked in intensive care for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years and where I have also been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all over the world since 2013, the more information, the better. Do you want to be on life support? How long do you want to be on life support? Do you want to live even if you are dependent on life support for long periods of times? Do you want a DNR (do not resuscitate) if you’re stuck in ICU for example?

It would take a lot of time for me to explain all of that in detail, but I’ve made so many videos over the years, “How long can someone be on life support?”, “How long can someone be on a tracheostomy with a ventilator?”

There are options now also like Intensive Care at Home, going home from ICU. You could also be as specific as, God forbid, if you are in an end-of-life situation that you want to have end of life care at home. The more specific you can be the better it is. It’ll take the decision-making burden away from your family.

That can be a challenge that for families who don’t have a medical power of attorney document. They don’t really know what decisions they should be making for their loved ones and there they can be very conflicted by doing so.

So, we can also consult, or we are also consulting about this specific issue. If you’re watching this and you want more details around, what does it mean to be on life support? How long can you be on life support? What are the best courses of action? You should also keep in mind that approximately 90% of intensive care patients survive. So, the odds are actually in a patient’s favor.

The other thing that we’re hearing over and over again is, “Well, I don’t want to be a “vegetable”. I don’t want to live on a ventilator.” The reality is a lot of people come off the ventilator eventually and they can live.

So again, there’s a lot of things you don’t know, and you don’t know what you don’t know. So, you need a lot of information here. But more importantly, you don’t want the intensive care team to make decisions for you or for your family members. Intensive care teams can be very negative, they can be very pushy towards withdrawing treatment. They need beds in ICU. It’s about what makes them money and so forth.

So, you have to consider all of that when you write your medical power of attorney document. You could also write an advance care plan and I would also recommend you write an advance care plan again with your wishes, that there’s no ambiguity on what you want when you are in a situation where you are incapacitated.

So, that is my advice and my quick tip for today.

Like I said, I can provide more insights there if you want to talk to me directly. I have worked in intensive care for nearly 25 years in three different countries. I have worked as a nurse manager in ICU for over 5 years. I have been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all around the world here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013.

I can confidently say that we have saved lives by doing so and you can verify that on our testimonial section as well as on our podcast section where we have done some client interviews.

Because we are getting so many questions for families in intensive care, that’s also why we create the membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can get access to it by going to intensivecarehotline.com, by clicking on the membership link or by 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.

I also offer one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best. I talk to doctors and nurses directly and I ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking and I make sure you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence.

We also offer medical record reviews in real time so that you can have 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.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams so that you have clinical representation and I’ll make sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. I also strategize with you whether even going into a family meeting with intensive care teams is a good idea because often it is not.

Now, 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 from this video.

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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