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

So yesterday, we had an inquiry where someone said that his father has been in intensive care since about the end of December with a cardiac arrest and anoxic brain injury, and he’s got a tracheostomy now, but he’s not waking up. And the ICU says, “Well, he’s never going to wake up”, and that he should consider end of life, and that they should stop treatment. And they’ve asked for a family meeting within the next six hours or so, when they first contacted us.

He was asking what he should do in this family meeting and what he should say and what he shouldn’t say. Well, my next question to the client was, “Well, have you got a written agenda from the ICU team?” And he said, “No”, he doesn’t. Then I said to him, “Well, you should never go into a family meeting in intensive care without a written agenda”.

Now, think about it. Any meeting in life, predominantly in business, there should have a meeting agenda in writing so people can prepare, they know what’s being discussed and so forth. So, in intensive care where life or death decisions are made and is at stake, why would there be no agenda in writing? You got to think about this, and I’m using strong language here now, but it borders on insanity that anybody would be going into a meeting in intensive care, that is potentially about life-or-death decisions without a written agenda.

Hospitals are very good at intimidating families in intensive care and saying, “Well, we’ve got to go for a meeting now, and you’ve got to come.” Well, intensive care teams conduct meetings, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, and they have beds to manage, they have resources to manage, they have other patients to manage, they have families to manage, they have staff to manage, they have equipment to manage. So, there’s a lot at stake from an intensive care team point of view as well.

They’ve got to keep ICU beds flowing, re-admit new patients, and so forth. And one way for them to empty beds and discharge patients is unfortunately by stopping treatment and letting patients approach their end of life, whether that’s ethical or not, that’s a whole different discussion. But you need to understand the mechanics of an intensive care unit because if you don’t, you will be fighting an uphill battle and you will never get what you want.

So, my advice is this. If ICU says, “Jump!”, don’t ask how high? Don’t play their games, you play your own game. So, ask for an agenda in writing for a meeting, and then have a look at the agenda and come back to us. We can tell you whether you can go in a meeting with this agenda or not, and whether you need representation. And we can do that here at intensivecarehotline.com. We represent families in intensive care in a family meeting because we know what to expect, we know what questions to ask, we know how to advocate because we are experts at intensive care, especially when it comes to the advocacy for families in intensive care.

So, that’s my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, go to intensivecarehotline.com and call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website, or simply email us 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.

Also, we do medical record reviews for patients in intensive care. So, if you have a loved one in intensive care, we can help you reviewing medical records in real time, but also after intensive care, especially if you’re suspecting medical negligence. But especially reviewing medical records in real time, we can interpret real clinical data for you, and we can communicate that to you in layman’s terms, so you don’t have to juggle around with medical jargon. We break it down for you, so that you can understand it in real terms.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care, share the video with your friends and families, click the like button, click the notification bell, and comment below what you want to see next, or what questions and insights you have from this video, or whether you agree or disagree.

Thanks for watching.

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

Take care.