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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: My Sister in ICU is Being Grossly Neglected by the ICU Team & Close to Death Even Though She has ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome)

If you want to know what to do when an ICU is really neglectful when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care, stay tuned. I’ve got news for you.

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I have another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So today, I have an email from Helen who says,

“Hi Patrik,

I have a few questions for you. I have a family member in ICU. My sister is on life support, and her daughter is listed as healthcare advocate in her advance directive offered by the hospital. Her husband and myself listed as alternatives. My name was put on the list as able to request and receive care being delivered and results by my niece, her daughter.

Since she was intubated, and intubation means the insertion of a breathing tube that is connected to a ventilator, it is my opinion that her care has been grossly neglected by ICU staff and is actually harming my sister’s life.

I was persistent why certain protocols or adjustments, and pathology labs are not being done and requested by ICU staff to confirm orders made by doctors for her care and why they were not done or why changes were not made when it was imperative to health and life? Intensive care staff did not like my persistence or questions. I was asking about all the care they were not doing, and I was demanding it to be addressed.

My sister’s RN (registered nurses) and RT (respiratory therapist) assigned to her care flat out refused to treat her disease process and life support needs per orders given by the doctors to be done and patient-driven protocols. My other niece is an RT (respiratory therapist), and I asked her for her help with answering questions about my sister’s ventilator settings and values and if current care being provided and not being provided, and changes made and no changes made were what my sister needed done.

ICU staff would not give me correct information and not managing her ventilator or sedation at all, causing my sister’s health to be ignored and in danger when my other niece, very knowledgeable in many years critical care health provider, agreed that our family member and my sister has been neglected and what care should be provided to keep her alive.

I had to contact the ICU RN manager because the RN assigned to my sister would not address my concerns for her immediate attention required by the respiratory therapist and registered nurses. I relayed to the ICU manager what my other niece said that ICU staff have to do, and what care had to be done, no matter what the cause her health being harmed by their actions.

Finally, my requests made for her ventilator and changes that must be made were done due to the ICU manager review of my sister’s ventilation orders. Her correct response to ventilation and values were validated by an ABG (Arterial Blood gas) draw that was needed 20 hours earlier due to her being put in prone position, and hours later.

The day shift was now starting, and her current pulmonologist met with my sister’s niece and praised how much better her mom was doing, and he was so happy and pleased with her improvement and took credit for the changes I had asked to be implemented.”

Now, I’ll just stop there for a moment. ABG means arterial blood gas. Arterial blood gas is necessary when someone is ventilated with a breathing tube on a regular basis to assess effectiveness of ventilation settings.

“Then, hours later, the day shift nursing manager and doctor requested a meeting with my sister’s daughter, who had power of attorney to make decisions for her care, whilst my sister was still unconscious and sedated and on life support, and told her that too many family members were asking questions, and this is causing staff to miss things and the patient’s needs, and then have to backtrack. They only want to provide her medical care records  or information with her and answer her questions only from now on, and will not be providing any more health information for my sister to me or take my questions and had me removed from the list in ICU, showing they could take my calls and questions, and my niece said, “Okay”, and agreed with that demand and told them she was really happy with their care and ICU staff, and what a great job she thinks, they have done for her mom, and she thanked them.

My sister’s improvement wasn’t due to their intervention. It was because they did what I asked them to change to the ventilator settings and maintain sedation based on info I relayed to my other niece, who had been a respiratory therapist for 25 years.

I didn’t know any of this had taken place to remove me from the next of kin and advocate list. So, the RN assigned to my sister for their shift was allowed to provide my sister’s health and medical information to me until I called ICU to get an update and told they had a meeting, and the doctor and the RN made orders that they would not be giving me any more information, and I’m no longer on the patient list. They will only be speaking with my sister’s daughter from now on, and I have to talk to her.

My sister’s daughter has no knowledge about critical healthcare at all, lives hours away, and has no idea what is going on, and her mom has suffered patient care neglect and harm. She believes the doctor has done a good job. It was my effort that made them do their job, and my sister appeared to be doing better for that one moment in 10 days at their ICU, and literally the other 9 days, my sister has been a victim of their failure to deliver appropriate medical treatment and life support to breathe properly. She has been literally suffocated and starved for ventilation and oxygen. I have been writing down all her ventilator settings and values every day and change or no change in ABG arterial blood gas and pathology work and vital signs.

I went over them with my niece who’s the respiratory therapist. My niece started crying. She said she has an obligation to make a report for patient abuse. We are lucky our family member is not dead, and we need to request to have her transferred out of their ICU as soon as possible. She’s not safe. What do you recommend?  My other niece has power of attorney. Do I call the ombudsman and request help?

It is so bad that my niece, who’s a respiratory therapist, said she has never seen anything that bad ever in 26 years as a respiratory therapist for someone on a ventilator ever. They are literally suffocating my sister. She is in ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome).”

Now, I’ll stop here for a moment. ARDS stands for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and it basically stands for lung failure.

Carrying on with email, “But she’s stable enough to be transferred in a critical care ambulance to another hospital. Because I know her care is not safe where she is right now, how do I get my niece, who is power of attorney, to see for herself or request ventilation and values from intubation recorded so she can see for herself? How can I convince her? Or do I report it to a medical board somewhere? Or do I make an appointment with an attorney for medical malpractice? It is that bad.

My niece, who has no idea about ICU care needs to be educated by someone, other than myself, that her mom really has suffered direct patient neglect, and her life is in serious danger. I really don’t know what to do. Everything recorded on the ventilator internally with memory chip and electronic medical records for her in ICU has been captured by her chart and document. There isn’t any way for ICU staff team to hide it or deny it. It is all recorded because it’s electronic medical records.

My niece and I are not estranged, we are close, and I don’t understand why she agreed to do what the doctor and the RN wanted, to not talk to anyone else other than her only now. They know that I know what has happened because I called the RN and her boss to make them do their job and help my sister to stay alive. They didn’t like that at all. They are saying there are way too many people asking questions for my sister’s care.

ICU staff know my niece, who’s a respiratory therapist, used to work at their campus for 12 years. She knows most of them. They know she knows what they’ve done is a direct violation of patient safety, and it’s very serious.

My niece, who’s a respiratory therapist, works for the same hospital corporation at their campus for the last 26 years. She could not believe what they’ve been doing to her ventilator settings. I can’t believe my sister hasn’t coded. She literally started crying when I asked her to look over what I had for my sister’s ventilation history for the past 10 days in a row and her vitals and said it had to be reported. It is abuse.”

What do I do? Because I have proof. This needs extremely urgent attention to this email. Please help me. From, Helen.”

My goodness, Helen, I’m so sorry to you and your family that you are going through this. Given the severity of the situation, the potential for medical negligence, here is what I strongly recommend.

First off, you need to talk to your niece, who’s the medical power of attorney. Especially since you’ve mentioned you are not estranged from her, you should try the friendly approach, and you should talk to her, and you should see what you can get from her by trying the friendly approach. I think that is really important. Explain to her what’s happened, maybe also with your other niece who’s a respiratory therapist. Because she’s a respiratory therapist, hopefully she can talk to your other niece, and explain to her what’s really happening.

Now, if the friendly approach doesn’t work, and you can’t be put back on the list of people who have access to the medical records and who get the information and who can ask questions, then I would strongly recommend that you contact the hospital’s patient advocate or ombudsman. Every hospital has a patient advocate or ombudsman, I would call immediately and file a formal complaint, be clear about the neglect, the refusal to follow doctor’s orders, and the removal of your access to information. Request an investigation. Now, it is unheard of to me that a nurse is not following medical orders. That is unheard of to me.

I’ve worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in 3 different countries where I’ve worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in critical care, and I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can confidently say that we have saved many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com and on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we’ve done many client interviews who will verify that we’ve saved many of their lives.

So, you can definitely contact the hospital’s advocate or ombudsman, but you should also get me as an advocate, because like I said, we have turned many situations around. Many, and it’s all evidenced on our testimonial section and on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section.

Next, you need to escalate this to hospital administration. Request a meeting with the hospital’s chief medical officer, chief nursing officer, and even the general manager, or the hospital CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Outline the issues and demand immediate intervention. I would start with sending an email to them. I can help you, and my team can help you how to write this email. We’ve written so many complaint emails over the years with our consulting advocacy with very good outcomes. We know how to write those emails to get outcomes.

Next, since your sister is in ARDS or lung failure, but stable enough for a transfer, her daughter, who has the power of attorney, must demand an immediate transfer to another hospital with a higher standard of care. Your niece, the RT (respiratory therapist) can also help explain why this is medically necessary. Myself and my team can also explain why this is medically necessary. We’ve got plenty of resources at hand.

Next, you must report to the state health department and medical board. You got to file an official complaint with the state’s Department of Health and Medical Licensing Board, but also with the nursing registration board.  Provide detailed documentation of what has happened, include the dates, names, and specific failures in your sister’s care.

Next, I would also involve an attorney immediately given the life-threatening neglect and potential malpractice. Contact the medical malpractice attorney ASAP (as soon as possible). They can file an emergency injunction to ensure proper care or even assist with the rapid hospital transfer.

Next, get your niece, who’s the power of attorney, informed and involved. Since she doesn’t understand the medical urgency, have your RT niece sit down with her and show her the documentation. Explain that her mother’s life is at risk right now, and that action is needed immediately. Given that you’ve got information, we can also help you with the explanation for your niece, as an independent opinion, as a third party. That is what we do.

Next, demand access to medical records and ventilator logs. The hospital is legally required to provide full medical records, including ventilator logs. The power of attorneys must request all records immediately, verbally and in writing, and do that with the deadline. What do they have to hide?

Next move. If the hospital refuses to act, you can call the emergency line. I know you’re in the U.S., so call 911 and request an emergency transfer to another facility.

If your sister’s condition worsens, document everything and ensure legal action to follow. This is a life-or-death situation, and you need to push aggressively for your sister’s safety. Do not let them silence you. If they refuse to escalate, immediately to legal and state authorities. Let me know if you need specific contact info for state agencies. I can help you to find those details. But like I said to you, it will also help if you and I and both nieces talk to the doctors and nurses directly. It’ll be a game changer because our advice is absolutely life changing.

Like I said, I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in 3 different countries, where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years, and I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013, where I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013. Like I said, I can confidently, very confidently say we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com and you can also verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews and they will verify everything that I’m saying here.

Like I said, our advice is life changing. You can join a growing number of members and clients that we have helped over the years to improve their lives instantly by making informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, influence, making sure their loved ones get the 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 simply, simply cannot afford to get wrong. Today’s example is illustrating that perfectly. You cannot afford to get these situations wrong. Your family members’ lives are at stake. That’s also why I talk to doctors and nurses directly. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly, 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. That’s when you see the dynamics will change in your favor when they know you have someone on your team who’s a professional advocate who understands intensive care inside out. 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 e-books and 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded. All of that will help you to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets the 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.

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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.