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Today’s article is about, “Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: My Mom's Been in ICU for 30 Days with Pneumonia & Cardiac Arrest. Should She be Awake by Now?”

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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: My Mom's Been in ICU for 30 Days with Pneumonia & Cardiac Arrest. Should She be Awake by Now?
 

If you want to know what to do if your mother has been in an induced coma for 30 days, 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 Maggie who says, 

“Hi Patrik,

My mother has been in a medically induced coma due to pneumonia. The day she went in, they told her she was healthy enough to be out in a ventilator and will only need it for a few days. Day 2, they moved her to get a lung X-ray, and she flatlined. They brought her back to life; however, she has been on a ventilator since then. What else can we do? It is almost 30 days. We need help or have her transferred to a better hospital. 

Can you please advise?” 

Well, Maggie, thank you so much for sending this email. 

So, a couple of things here. “The day she went in, they told her she was healthy enough to be out on a ventilator and we only need it for a few days.” I believe you are referring to that she was on CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) or BiPAP (Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure), probably for the pneumonia. They thought that was good enough to treat the pneumonia, probably with some antibiotics, antivirals, or antifungals, depending on where the pneumonia originated from.

“Then, they did an X-ray and she flatlined,” meaning she had a cardiac arrest. Because she had a cardiac arrest, depending on how long it took to get her back from the cardiac arrest and get a heartbeat again, she might have sustained hypoxic or anoxic brain injury. Have you asked that question? Have they done a CT (computed tomography) scan of the brain? Have they done an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of the brain? Have they done an EEG (electroencephalogram)?

However, let’s just say that’s clear. Then, she might simply be too sedated to wake up, and that might be the main issue. So, because she’s been on the ventilator now for 30 days, and judging from your email, she doesn’t have a tracheostomy, she’s still on a breathing tube because that’s why she probably needs sedation still. If she had a tracheostomy, she wouldn’t need any sedation, most likely. So that’s why I think she has a breathing tube.

But that’s also why I keep saying, 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. That’s exactly what I can see here.

So, what else should you be doing? 

Number 1, you should get a second opinion. Ask for a consultation with myself or with some of our team members, or with another pulmonologist or critical care specialist within the hospital or from another facility. Of course, you can come here to intensivecarehotline.com.

Number 2, it doesn’t sound to me like you’ve requested a meeting. I would push for a meeting where you get all the details with the medical team to discuss your mom’s prognosis, potential recovery, and options.

Number 3, you absolutely should be considering a transfer. If you believe she’s not receiving the best care, you can request a transfer to a more advanced hospital with specialized pulmonary care. If the current hospital resists, talk to patient advocates and your insurance provider for assistance. Talk to us as advocates because we can make it happen for you.

Number 4, get access to the medical records ASAP. But it doesn’t sound to me like you’ve got access to the medical records. You need to request access to the medical records ASAP. That should be no more complicated in this day and age, that the next of kin, the power of attorney, the guardian, or the proxy can get access to the medical records at the drop of a hat. It’s 2025, just a username and the password to a website or to an app, and you should have access to the medical records.

Next, number 5, explore tracheostomy and ventilation weaning. So, if your mom still has a breathing tube, which it sounds like she does, otherwise she wouldn’t be in an induced coma, you absolutely need to consider a tracheostomy. The time window when a tracheostomy should be done should be between 10 to 14 days. It’s been 30 days. 

Now, by her being in a medically induced coma, the side effects of a medically induced coma are huge, and that comes with deconditioning, risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The mom probably needs to learn to walk again, talk again, move her arms, and move her legs. So, the sooner she can get out of the induced coma, the better. She needs to have a tracheostomy so that she can wake up, so that she can mobilize and so forth.

Also, like I said, I don’t quite understand why she hasn’t had a tracheostomy yet, that’s almost medical negligence. That’s why you need a second opinion. You need advocacy. This negligence of keeping someone in an induced coma for 30 days because the question here also is, is she not waking up? Is she not waking up because she is in an induced coma? Or is she not waking up because she had a brain injury? That is really the question here.

I hope that answers your question, Maggie.

Now, 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 nursing. 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 and families in intensive care. You can verify that by going to our intensivecarehotline.com testimonial section and by going to our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews. Our advice is life-changing, and I’m not exaggerating. 

Our advice is absolutely life-changing because 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. Clearly, that is what’s happening here. You need to start managing the intensive care team, so they don’t manage you. That’s all possible, that’s what we do all day, every day. 

We have helped hundreds and hundreds of members and clients over the years. You can join a growing number of members and clients if you join our membership or if you become a client. 

I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, whichever meeting 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 you and your families directly, I also talk to doctors and nurses directly with you or on your behalf or I set you up with the right questions to ask. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly or I set you up with the right questions to ask, 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.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com where 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 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, making sure the access to me and my team and the eBooks and videos 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 support@intensivecarehotline.com.

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 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.

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