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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care:
ICU Negligence and Delayed Sepsis Treatment – What Families in Intensive Care Need to Know

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, where we help families of critically ill patients in intensive care to get results, make informed decisions, get peace of mind, control, power, and influence, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse when your loved one is critically ill in intensive care, also making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment. Always.

So today, I have an email from a reader who says,

“Hi Patrik, 

I’m awaiting the outcome of my case against the UK hospital NHS Trust. I was blue lighted into A&E, which is the Emergency Department in the UK, with NEWS2 of 5 and worsening chronic pain. 

Just in case you’re wondering what is NEWS2, it’s a critically ill assessment tool, and I’ll go through that in a minute. Then she continues.

My NEWS2 was calculated wrongly every single time for 5 days. I was put on the wrong respiratory scale. ABGs (Arterial Blood Gases) weren’t done when ordered. NEWS2 scores ignored. Every day they documented I was confused. They failed to monitor my fluid balance. This is just a few things that they did wrong. Despite the diagnosis staring them in the face, I wasn’t commenced on sepsis pathway for 51 hours. 

51 hours without antibiotics ended up with Kidney Injury, Type 1 Respiratory Failure, a huge PE (Pulmonary Embolism), and ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). It’s also known as lung failure. 

I am now suffering the long-term consequences. I am so scared waiting to hear whether they accept liability. They said I should know by November.” 

Now, before I look at the question in detail, NEWS2 (National Early Warning Score 2) is a standardized system used in the UK to assess the risk of patient deterioration by measuring six key physiological parameters. The key components of NEWS2 are:

• respiratory rate
• oxygen saturation
• systolic blood pressure
• pulse rate
• level of consciousness or confusion

Each parameter is scored on a scale from 0 to 3, with higher scores indicating more extreme deviations from normal. NEWS2 is used to identify patients at risk of deterioration and trigger appropriate responses. In essence, NEWS2 provides a standardized and objective way to assess the patient’s condition and guide clinical decision-making, aiming to improve patient safety and outcomes.

To address this really important and also heartbreaking situation today, the reader who shared their experience of being admitted to a UK hospital with a NEWS2 score of 5 and worsening chronic pain. Unfortunately, this NEWS2 score was miscalculated for 5 consecutive days.

Arterial blood gases weren’t done when ordered, fluid balance wasn’t monitored, and they were documented as “confused” daily without appropriate action being taken. Despite clear signs of sepsis, they were not commenced on the sepsis pathway for 51 hours. That means 51 hours without antibiotics, which is unacceptable given that every hour of delay in administering antibiotics for sepsis increases the risk of death. As a result, they developed Acute Kidney Injury, Respiratory Failure, Pulmonary Embolism, ARDS, and now have long-term suffering and long-term consequences.

This case highlights exactly why families need to be proactive and not leave everything up to the ICU team. Hospitals make mistakes, and when they do, patients and families are the ones who pay the ultimate price. If your loved one is in ICU with suspected sepsis, you must ask what is their NEWS2 score, have blood gases been taken and reviewed, is fluid balance being monitored properly, has the sepsis pathway been started and have antibiotics been given? You cannot afford to wait and assume the team has it all under control, because as this case shows, sometimes they simply don’t.

This is exactly why we advocate, give education and provide education, and having someone on your side who knows intensive care inside out is absolutely critical. Families should never feel powerless or left in the dark when the stakes are this high. I also believe that when something like this happens, it usually means there’s a junior team at work. There’s not enough senior doctors or nurses on the ground. A lot of ICUs often go through transitions with staff, high staff turnover, speeding up junior teams again, and that’s when things get lost because the experienced is simply not on the ground.

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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