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

Today, I have an email from Tonya who says, 

“Hi Patrik,

My sister died on the 16th of August 2024. On the 15th of August 2024, I received notice that the hospital had filed for an expedited hearing to gain guardianship of my sister for the purpose of sending her to hospice and letting her die. They wanted to stop giving her blood transfusions due to a shortage in blood as a result of a computer hack. What could I have done differently?”

Well, Tonya, I’m very sorry to hear about the passing of your sister. It sounds extremely tragic here.

Now, one thing that we advise for families in intensive care is always that you get guardianship and power of attorney status as quickly as possible and if you don’t have it when your family member goes into intensive care, we also advise to talk to a family lawyer to get you that guardianship and power of attorney status as quickly as possible, so those things don’t happen in the first place.

Imagine there’s an absolute nightmare situation if you have a family member in intensive care, and all of a sudden, the hospital has guardianship and can pretty much run decisions whichever way they see fit. It sounds to me like this resulted in your sister’s death, and that is absolutely horrific.

Now, the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know (155). 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.

Once again, this is a classical situation that resulted in a patient death by doing so. Now, what you can do early enough when you have a family member in intensive care is doing your own research, so that you don’t come into these situations in the first place.

I’m a critical care nurse by background. I have been working in critical care nursing for nearly 25 years in three different countries. I have worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013. I can confidently say we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com or you can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section () where we’ve done client interviews, verifying the work that we’ve done for them.

You can do your research early enough, you can get access to the medical records early enough, you can have a consultant and advocate speak to intensive care teams early enough. The sooner you do that, the better results and outcomes you will get. 

One of the reasons we have saved lives of families in intensive care is simply they’re asking for help early enough. We specialize on the advocacy side of things for families in intensive care and that’s why we are getting results because we know all about patient rights, we know all about families’ rights. In a situation like that, we would have advised you early on, get that piece of paper for power of attorney and guardianship so that you are the one making decision.

Now, I know Tonya you are in the United States, I know that from your email. There has been a documentary from NBC News not too long ago where some hospitals in the United States apparently get incentivized to move people to hospice and letting them die. Then, those patients don’t even show up in the hospital’s mortality rate. That is dangerous and it needs to be called out here that this is what’s actually happening. I will put a link in the written version of the blog towards this documentary so you can verify for yourself. 

It’s dangerous when you have a loved one critically in an intensive care, but it’s even more dangerous if you are not asking the right questions and if you’re not getting the help that you need.

Because we’re getting so many questions for families in intensive care, that is why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, and you can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com if you click on the link or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org (197) 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. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded, and in the membership, we answer all questions for you.

I also do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, 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 on your behalf and 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 (242) in real time so that you can get 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. 

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, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have, and share this video with your friends and families.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on a show and you get notifications for the YouTube live if you’re a subscriber to my YouTube channel, or if you are a subscriber to my email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com. 

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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