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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 about a situation where one of our clients has the 83-year-old grandfather in ICU. He initially went into ICU with a sepsis, and he ended up having a partial colectomy or a hemicolectomy because of a bowel perforation. Now, from Day 1, the ICU team was very pushy saying to the family that they should just stop treatment, that their grandfather wouldn’t survive, and that it’s “in his best interest” to not live and just have life support withdrawn and just pass away.

Now, thank God for this family. They stood their ground from Day 1 saying that their grandfather would want to live and would want all resources to be given to him in order to battle this challenge. Apparently, had a good quality of life before he went into ICU at the age of 83.

So, every day, the family felt really harassed and bullied by the intensive care team to the degree where one of the doctors apparently was even yelling at the family. That’s completely inappropriate.

Then, when the family reached out to me for a consulting session, I told them two things. The first thing is, “What about a tracheostomy?” Because he hasn’t woken up, he’s apparently still on sedation. He had a large amount of benzodiazepines, apparently. And I asked them, “Well, what about a tracheostomy to give him time to take off sedation and see whether he can wake up?” Well, the family told us they never heard of a tracheostomy. So, that’s the first thing.

The next thing that we then found out is with hemicolectomy (removing part of the colon), I was asking, “How is he getting nutrition?” And the family was saying he’s got a nasogastric tube. So, a feeding tube through the nose and apparently, he’s getting 10 to 20 mls of feed during the nasogastric tube per hour. Well, that’s nothing, that is absolutely nothing. That means the gentleman is potentially starving to death. It’s been Day 11 now and, again, that is negligent. Deliberately withholding food, that’s an attempt to kill someone from my perspective.

So then, I suggested, “What about TPN?”, and they never heard of TPN. Well, TPN is stands for Total Parental Nutrition also known as intravenous nutrition, and I asked them to suggest that to the intensive care team.

Again, two things here. (A), like I always say intensive care team is not even telling you half of the story unless you know what to look for. (B), it also confirms what I’m saying almost on every video that 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’s exactly what we are dealing with here.

Next, they have also been pushed towards the DNR (do not resuscitate) but thankfully, again, the family stood their ground saying their grandfather wouldn’t want a DNR and he would want everything to be done.

Now, lastly, what does that say about the intensive care teams’ judgments if they’re telling the family, “Well, he’s not going to survive, he’s not going to survive.”? Well, it’s Day 11 now and he’s still surviving. What does it tell you about the judgment and about the agendas that intensive care teams have? Their agenda are clearly self-driven, they’re not driven in the best interest of a patient.

So, it’s another story of you need to know what to look for. You need to get help because if you’re not getting professional help, you are fighting an uphill battle. We will have another consulting session booked later today and I can give you an update and another quick tip video there.

Then now, 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. There, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in a membership area and via email and we answer all questions intensive care related.

If you need a medical record review in real time, we can help you with that in real time so that you can have a second opinion in real time. If you need a medical record review after intensive care if you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence, please contact us as well.

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’ll talk to you in a few days.

Take care.