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

So, currently, we are working with a client who has their 65-year-old mom in intensive care. It’s been four days now. She’s got COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and with the limited interactions that this family had with the ICU doctors, they’re telling her that her mom is dying. And, they’re saying they need to prepare the family to say their goodbyes.

Now, so far we have limited information. The family send us, pictures of the ventilator,  pictures of the ICU monitor to see some vital signs, pictures of the medications that she’s on. There’s no indication from our end so far that this lady is dying. But here is hopefully my take home message for this video.

The family is telling us that there are no doctors in this ICU over the weekend. So basically, this lady is in ICU. The doctors have been telling the family during the week that their mother is dying, and now over the weekend, there’s not one single ICU doctor in that ICU. Then my next question was, well, how big is the ICU? And they’re saying, well, less than 10 beds in a rural area.

So I have not worked in any ICU where there’s no doctor covered 24-hours a day. It almost sounds to me like they’re trying to wash their hands clean early on by not having the resources available there and they’re just saying, “Well, this is all too hard. Your mom is dying. Please get prepared.” So, what is our advice here?

Our advice here is (A) to get access to the medical records, request a meeting with the doctor if they are around. But in the meantime, the family or our client needs to start looking for another ICU, and we can help with that. But I have not heard of an ICU where there’s no doctor covered 24-hours a day. It’s absolutely shocking, but obviously that’s the state of healthcare in 2023. Lack of resources, lack of doctors, lack of nurses, and it’s really bad. So if your loved one is in ICU and you are fighting, there’s no doctor covered 24 hours a day, you need to run a million miles and you need to look up for alternatives very, very quickly before it’s too late.

I have mainly worked in big metropolitan ICUs over the years. But this obviously sounds like a small country hospital, small country ICU with no doctor covered 24 hours a day, you need to run a million miles. They’re only not having the resources; they’re probably also lacking the experience that it takes to deal with someone as complex as our client’s mother here.

So that is my quick tip for today.

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 24-hours a day.

Also, if you need a medical record review for your loved one in intensive care, please contact us as well. We provide medical record reviews for patients in intensive care in real time, but also after intensive care, even though we strongly recommend that you need to get access to medical records in real time so you can have that crucial second opinion in real time.

If you need a medical record review after Intensive care because you need closure, you have unanswered questions, or you simply 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.