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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: Thanks to intensivecarehotline.com, My Dad Got a Tracheostomy Instead of Having Life Support Stopped!

Today, I have another success story in how we are helping families in intensive care to save their loved ones’ lives.

Before I give you some context, my name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and this is another quick tip for families in intensive care.

We’ve been working with a client for a few weeks now, that has their 68-year-old dad in ICU, and he went in there with cardiac arrest or after cardiac arrest with a supposedly hypoxic brain injury. The ICU was pretty quick in saying, that he won’t survive. If he did survive, it would not be in his “best interest” to survive because he wouldn’t have any, “quality of life”.

The family reached out to us and asked whether there’s any hope and what should they do because they did not agree with the approach of the intensive care. They said, look, our dad would want to fight, and he want, wants everything to be done. Then we got on a call with the family and with the ICU team, and we were asking some questions that need to be asked in a situation like that. Why are they the only ones knowing that it’s not in his “best interest” to survive? Which is a ridiculous statement to make because it’s not up to intensive care teams to decide who lives and dies. It’s up to intensive care teams to provide the resources making sure that someone has the best chance of survival.

As we going along, we also find out the intensive care team never told the family that the tracheostomy is an option, but at that stage, their loved one would have been ventilated with a breathing tube for over 2 weeks. It was time to start talking about a tracheostomy, which the intensive care team never did.

That’s why I keep saying here on this podcast that intensive care teams don’t even tell you half of what’s going on. Unless you are asking what’s going on, you never find out. And unless you have someone on your side, on your team, that can help you with asking the right questions, you are fighting an uphill battle that you simply can’t win.

But in this situation, like in many other situations when we work with clients one on one, the family is winning because of our help, because of our advice, because of our advocacy, because of that look behind the scenes that we can give families in intensive care, because they simply don’t know what’s going on. Let’s read out the email that I had from the client this morning so that you can get more context.

Hi Patrik,

I hope you’re well. I wanted to give you an update on my dad. On Sunday, after Thursday’s meeting, we had a meeting with the intensive care team last Thursday. Whilst at the hospital, mom was spoken to by the doctor, and they said, they’ve “decided it is in his best interest to do the tracheostomy.” And that it will do such and such and such.

Yes, which is exactly what we told the family, that these are the pros and the cons of a tracheostomy. You’ve got to weigh up the pros and cons. Clearly, the pros are, it can prolong life, and it can give people a chance to recovery and wean off the ventilator.

There’s no guarantee for it, of course, but one thing is for sure, if you’re not doing it, you know the outcome. If you’re removing life support, which is death, you know the outcome of that. If you’re giving people a chance, you don’t know the outcome, but you’re giving them a chance.

Then the email continues.

It’s not over but just wanted to acknowledge how we believe the Lord to help us even when you advised us to send the letter to the CEO. I saw how much it jolted them to their sensibilities.

And let me just pause there, and that’s why I also keep saying, you know, we have written so many emails and letters to hospital executives or helped our clients to write emails and letters to hospital executives to get care escalated, and it works. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Things work. You just got to sit down and think about it logically.

Then the email continues.

I just had to pause and say thank you. He’s now due to have the tracheostomy scheduled sometime this week. They say they will do it in the theater, though, as apparently, he has a thick neck, and it’s better for the experts to do it. They also have put him now on the proper dialysis.

Many tracheostomies in this day and age are being done at the bedside in ICU, and intensivists can perform the procedure, but sometimes when there’s difficult anatomy and there is a thick neck, then it’s much safer to do it in the Operating Room.

But also, kudos to our client here. We have families reaching out to us and we tell them what we can do for them, and we never hear from them again. And then they reach out 12 months later and they say, oh, my loved one died. I wonder whether it would have been a different approach, whether there’s something you could have done. Yes, there’s always something you can do.

We have saved so many lives for our clients in intensive care over the years, and that’s something that I’m immensely proud of. This patient here as well would have died otherwise. But it’s also up to families to take advice and implement. We can help you implement, but we can’t do it for you, or we can only do it so far for you. Kudos to this family who has now given their family member, a second chance at life.

Then the email continues.

Great update today. My mom has sent a video that showed my dad opening his eyes, blinking, but also tracking her face from side to side. She’s very surprised, but also very delighted by his livelier reactions.

And I’ve seen the video. I can’t share this, obviously, but I’ve seen the video, and it’s amazing. You can clearly see that the gentleman is opening his eyes and making eye contact, following his wife, you know, it’s amazing. It’s amazing what you can achieve if you don’t give up, and if you believe in what you’re doing. It’s the right thing for your family member.

So, just wanted to give you that update.

I have worked in critical care nursing for over 25 years in 3 different countries, and 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, just like we did for this particular client.

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

Because our advice is absolutely life changing. If you don’t believe it, just listen to this video again. It is absolutely life changing because what we’ve done with this patient. We have helped hundreds and hundreds of clients and members over the years to improve their lives instantly, to save their loved ones’ lives, making sure that families can make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, influence so that their loved ones get best care and treatment always.

That’s why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. And 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. And when I talk to doctors and nurses directly, with you on your behalf or I’m setting you up with the right questions to ask, we ask all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked. Just like the example I gave you today, the family had no idea that a tracheostomy is a life prolonging option.

You have to keep in mind; intensive care teams are only telling you half of what’s going on. And unless you do a deep dive, you don’t know what’s going on. 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, 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 get exclusive access to 21 e-books and 21 videos that I have 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 support @intensivecarehotline.com 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 from this video.

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’re a subscriber to my YouTube channel, or if you are a subscriber to my intensivecarehotline.com email newsletter.

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.