We Refused a Tracheostomy in ICU for My Sister&She Died!Was INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME an Option for Her

https://intensivecareathome.com/we-refused-a-tracheostomy-in-icu-for-my-sister-she-died-was-intensive-care-at-home-an-option-for-her/

We Refused a Tracheostomy in ICU for My Sister&She Died!Was INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME an Option for Her

Book your free 15-minute phone consultation here
http://intensivecarehotline.com/scheduling-appointment/

Call directly 24/7
+1 415-915-0090 USA/Canada
+44 118 324 3018 UK
+6141 094 2230 Australia

Email support@intensivecarehotline.com

Get 1:1 consulting and advocacy
1:1 phone counselling
http://intensivecarehotline.com/one-on-one-counselling/

Become a member for families of critically ill Patients in Intensive Care
https://intensivecarehotline.com/intensivecaresupport-org-membership/

Immediate action steps http://intensivecarehotline.com/take-control-take-charge/immediate-action-steps/
https://intensivecareathome.com
And if you need a medical record review, click on the link and we can help you with reviewing your loved one’s medical records while they’re in ICU.
https://intensivecarehotline.thrivecart.com/review-of-medical-records/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IntensiveCareHotline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/icuhotline

Song: Jarico - Island Music
supported by@FreeBackgroundMusicForCreators
#BackgroundMusicWithoutLimitations
https://bit.ly/2XoXFnb

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from Intensive Care at Home, where we provide tailor-made solutions for long-term ventilated adults and children with tracheostomies. And where we also provide tailor-made solutions for hospitals and intensive care units whilst providing quality services for long-term ventilated patients including BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), VPAP (variable positive airway pressure), and medically-complex patients at home including home TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) IV antibiotics, IV fluids, and also IV potassium or magnesium infusions.

So, in today’s video blog, I want to answer a question from a reader. It’s a rather sad question, but I do believe it is very important that families in intensive care know about what options are available to them because quite frankly, families in intensive care don’t know what they don’t know. Now, let’s read out a question from a reader and see what she says and how we can answer that question.

“So, my sister was in ICU last year with respiratory failure due to a respiratory infection, metabolic acidosis, bronchospasm in a patient with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), with acute pulmonary edema. Would she have survived if she had a tracheostomy rather than be on a ventilator with CPAP?

My sister was given the option of a tracheostomy, but my sister’s husband decided not to proceed and opted for palliative care and let her die. Intensive care told her that she would be in intensive care with no option to live. Wow, what a powerful but also very sad story.

And well, quite frankly, your sister could have gone home with Intensive Care at Home. I mean, we’ve got so many clients at home with Intensive Care at Home that are on CPAP, with a tracheostomy, with COPD. And it sounds to me like if she had metabolic acidosis, that the CPAP was not sufficient to get her carbon dioxide down sufficiently enough to get rid of the metabolic acidosis. So, it could have been also respiratory acidosis in this situation, especially with COPD. Now, we would need to look at the medical records to establish that. But one way or another, your sister could have gone home with Intensive Care at Home.

Again, this comes back to what I’ve been saying for a decade now that the biggest challenge for families in intensive care is 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.

And therefore it leaves them with not making informed decisions and there’s plenty of intensive care units out there as well who don’t know that Intensive Care at Home is even a thing that we even exist. So again, also comes back to intensive care units not knowing what they don’t know.

So it comes back to education, knowing what your rights are, knowing about treatment options and acting on them, and in some instances, we also provide palliative care, end of life care at home. So sometimes as much as we improve quality of life for our clients and their families, we also improve quality of end of life.

That’s a real term and it’s a real thing. Who wants to die in an ICU if they can pass away at home in a much nicer, family-friendly and holistic environment? Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Continue reading at: https://intensivecareathome.com/we-refused-a-tracheostomy-in-icu-for-my-sister-she-died-was-intensive-care-at-home-an-option-for-her/