Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Can the ICU Team Ask My Family to Withdraw Life Support on My Young Sister After Only 6 Days in ICU?

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

So, today I want to talk about a call that I had with a client this morning who contacted me and basically said that her 53-year-old sister is in ICU, and she’s only been there for 6 days after cardiac arrest with potentially hypoxic brain injury. After only 6 days, the ICU team is asking the family whether they want to stop treatment or even more forceful, they say they should be stopping on treatment and life support because she won’t have any “quality of life” going forward. That is only after 6 days and they’re saying their sister was previously fit and healthy. So, that is sheer and utter madness.

The first question I said to the client, they need to ask to the ICU team is, “What is the rush and where’s the urgency to kill someone after 6 days?” There is plenty of time to talk about end of life. So, if ICU team is telling you after 6 days in ICU with hemodynamic stability, their sister’s actually stable, it’s just that she’s not waking up. If she’s not waking up, that also means she’s probably after the influence of sedatives or opiates. Even though she may be off it, she may still be under the influence of it.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what their rights. They don’t know, but I think I’ve given them the first tools so they know and understand how to manage intensive care teams so that they don’t walk all over them.

Removing life support after 6 days in ICU; number 1, it’s not a long time, number 2, it could be perceived as murder, could be perceived as euthanasia depending on what medications they’re giving, and it’s simply misleading families in intensive care. Because I can tell you, we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care with very good outcomes where weeks later, sometimes months later, and sometimes not at all, people do wake up, and people have quality of life that is acceptable for them and for their families.

So, it is absolutely not for ICU teams to make a judgment on what quality of life is or isn’t, because that is a very subjective decision to make. It’s not a decision to be made for ICU teams, let alone after 6 days.

So, what this family obviously needs as a matter of urgency is a second opinion which we will be giving them by looking at medical records, by giving them the full picture of what’s actually happening. I can tell you from my extensive intensive care nursing experience, ICU teams tell families not even half of what is going on, and because they’re not even telling them half of what’s going on, they can’t have the big picture. They can’t have the full picture.

So, what is the point after 6 days to kill a patient in ICU? The point of ICU perspective is they need beds, they need to free up staff and resources, but that doesn’t serve families in intensive care. Families in intensive care, it’s all about preserving their loved ones and their loved ones’ lives. Life is sacred and you need to go, unfortunately in this day and age, to great lengths to preserve your loved one’s life. Like I said, there’s plenty of time to talk about the end of life in case their sister isn’t surviving or in case their sister isn’t waking.

Remember, approximately 90% of patients in intensive care survive. With 90% of patients in intensive care roughly surviving, that means the odds are in the patient’s favour, always keep that in mind.

So like I said, plenty of time to talk about the end of life. There is no rush to kill anyone. Also, families in intensive care need to make decisions they don’t regret in 12 months’ time. Make decisions today that you don’t regret in 12 months’ time, 18 months’ time, in 24 months’ time because most likely, this family will regret letting their sister go, letting their sister die. Then, they will have second thoughts because at the moment, this is a highly charged emotional situation, and you need to let the emotion pass by and make rational decisions, not hasty decisions about life or death.

I’m saying that with all of my experience, 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 critical 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 for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that if you go to our intensivecarehotline.com testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com or if you go to intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews. When you read the testimonials or you watch the podcast with our clients, you will recognize that our advice is absolutely life changing. It’s absolutely life-changing.

You can join a growing number of members and clients that we have helped over the years to improve their lives instantly, making sure they make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure their loved ones get best care and treatment always.

That’s why I 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 can’t afford to get wrong. I make sure you ask the right questions. I make sure you understand everything that’s happening with your critically ill loved one so that you can ask the right questions and get the right outcomes. I also talk to doctors and nurses directly on your behalf or with you or I set you up with the right questions. I’ll make sure 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 in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if 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. 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 videos and 21 e-books that only are exclusively accessible to our members. All of that will help you to 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 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.

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

Related Articles:

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Why You Need to Talk to the Medical Specialists Outside of ICU! Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: How Long to Wake Up After Multiple Gun Shots in ICU? Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Five Ways to Position Yourself if Your Loved One isn’t Waking Up After an Induced Coma! Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Wife’s in ICU and I Can’t Get Information From the Doctors, Help! Quick Tip for Families in ICU: Not Knowing if I’m Doing All I Can & the Best for My Loved One in ICU