My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, where we instantly improve the lives for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, so that you can make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in intensive care, making sure your loved one always gets best care and treatment in intensive care.

So, today I have an email from Kristi who says:

“Hi Patrik,

My mother is diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and required use of an oxygen machine at home. She had complained and began panicking from not being able to catch her breath three days ago, and she’s now on a ventilator in the hospital. She was admitted for extreme shortness of breath; O2sat (oxygen saturation) was in the 50s. They sedated her and placed her on a ventilator.

Three days later, the doctors expressed there are no other options, and they placed her on hospice and are doping her up with sedatives, propofol and morphine until she dies from organ failure.

Is there really nothing else we can do?

From, Kristi.”

So, Kristi, thank you for sharing this with me, and the situation is unfortunately far too common. Your mother is in ICU with COPD on a ventilator, and now the doctors are saying there are “no options” and want to place her on hospice while sedating her with propofol and morphine until she dies. This is not uncommon, but it’s also not the only path forward. It’s actually quite frankly, its euthanasia, and euthanasia is illegal.

Also, don’t let other people’s opinions about a situation become your reality, and I know you’re not because that’s why you’re reaching out. So, let’s be very clear.

Many COPD patients recover from ICU stays and can be weaned off the ventilator with the right care, right time, right strategy, and right mindset. Unfortunately, many ICUs give up far too early because of resource constraints, funding issues, limited mindsets, lack of specialized long-term ventilation experience, and also wanting to stay in control of the narrative who lives and dies. But before anyone ever mentions hospice or withdrawal of treatment or palliative care, you and your family must have full access to your mother’s medical records.

Also, you must know that 70 to 90% of intensive care patients survive. So, the odds are in your mother’s favour. That means, why should your mother not survive if the odds are in your mother’s favor? Why are they so negative about your mother’s situation if the odds are in your favour? But that’s not what the intensive care team is telling you. They want to create a narrative of doom and gloom. They want to create a narrative of hospice, palliative care, and your mom not having a chance.

And again, if most patients in intensive care are surviving, you’re not asking the right questions just as yet. So, by getting access to your mom’s full medical records, including arterial blood gases, ventilator settings, blood results, medications, and progress notes, this information gives us the clarity needed to assess whether she’s being given every opportunity to recover.

I can already tell you without even looking at her medical records, she’s not getting every opportunity because if they’re doping her up, she’s on her way to death. Let’s just call it for what it is. Her organs will shut down if they keep doping her up. So, they’ve got to do the opposite, wake her up and see what happens.

Now, here at intensivecarehotline.com, we will help you get those medical records, interpret them, and hold a consulting call directly with the ICU team. When we speak with the doctors and nurses on your behalf, we can question their assumptions, advocate for your mother’s best interests, and push for alternatives to end of life care when recovery or stabilization may still be possible.

In many similar situations, we’ve helped families avoid premature end of life decisions, instead, getting their loved ones stabilized and eventually transferred home with Intensive Care at Home services, or simply saving their lives in ICU and then they’re going home without needing Intensive Care at Home. So, we have the best of both worlds here.

You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com, and you can verify that on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast where we’ve done client interviews.

So, first step, Kristi, is not to give up. Ask the right questions, get access to the medical records. Also, call them out on what they’re trying to do. They’re either trying to kill your mother without you giving consent to it. I assume you haven’t given consent to it. That is either euthanasia, especially if they’re doping her up, could also be perceived as murder. You have to call things for what they are; you have to look at things as for what they are, and that’s unfortunately, a reality.

Other questions that need to be asked are, have they done some weaning trials before doping her up? It doesn’t sound like it to me, and that is just plain and simply wrong and its negligence.

With Intensive Care at Home, for example, we provide specialist critical care nursing at home for long-term ventilated and tracheostomized patients, adults and children. This service would allow your mother to be cared for at home with 24-hour intensive care nurses, keeping her out of ICU predictably and permanently while maintaining quality of life and dignity at home. That’s assuming she needs a tracheostomy, which may well be the case, but again, we don’t know that just as yet.

So, never give up and get in touch with me today at intensivecarehotline.com for a one-on-one phone or Zoom or WhatsApp consulting and advocacy call. We can help you access, interpret all medical records, speak directly to the ICU team to challenge their recommendations, challenge their perceptions, explore all options for ongoing care including Intensive Care at Home, and we can help you very, very fast.

I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy because of our insights. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews because our advice is absolutely life changing.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply 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.

That’s why we help you to improve your life instantly, making sure you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always. That’s why you can join a growing number of members and clients that we have helped over the years, saving their loved ones’ lives.

That’s why I do one on one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, 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 cannot afford to get wrong. When I talk to families directly, I also talk to doctors and nurses directly, asking 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 in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if in case you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

We also have 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 membership link, or if you go 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. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded. All of that will help you to improve your life instantly, make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply 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, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you have from this video.

I also do a weekly YouTube live where I answer your questions live on the show. You will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel or my intensivecarehotline.com 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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