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Today’s article is about, “Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Dad Had a Cardiac Arrest & is in ICU on a Ventilator and Not Waking Up. Is He in an Induced Coma?”

You may also watch the video here on our website https://intensivecarehotline.com/blog/quick-tip-for-families-in-icu-my-dad-had-a-cardiac-arrest-is-in-icu-on-a-ventilator-and-not-waking-up-is-he-in-an-induced-coma/ or you can continue reading the article below.

Quick Tip for Families in ICU: My Dad Had a Cardiac Arrest & is in ICU on a Ventilator and Not Waking Up. Is He in an Induced Coma?

Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

Today, I have an email from Alexandra who says,

“Hi Patrik,

Thank you for your videos.

My father had a heart attack, and his wife woke up in the middle of the night with him struggling to breathe. She thought he was having a nightmare and tried to wake him for a minute or so, and then called the ambulance.

They told her to start CPR immediately, he started to turn blue when she started. The paramedics were there within 11 minutes of her doing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Here, we are at Day 4 with all these organs doing fine but waiting on an MRI scan of the brain.

Your videos give me hope. I’m not sure if it’s an induced coma or not.

What’s the difference?”

Great question, Alexandra.

So, first off, if he had CPR and he had a cardiac arrest, there’s a chance that he might have sustained a hypoxic or anoxic brain injury depending on whether he had oxygen supplied to the brain at all times which is not guaranteed during cardiac arrest. Also, depending on how effective CPR is. Within 11 minutes of the ambulance arriving, there’s reason to believe that he may not have had enough oxygen supplied to the brain, given that no equipment was there to do appropriate CPR, and unless someone is really well trained, it’s difficult to provide adequate CPR.

So, your dad needs an MRI scan or a CT scan of the brain to evaluate whether there has been any brain damage or not, whether he’s in an induced coma or in a natural coma, I couldn’t tell you. If he’s in an induced coma, he would have medications going in such as sedation and opiates. In terms of him being able to tolerate all the treatment, including the breathing tube. The breathing tube would be very uncomfortable. However, depending on if he had any brain injury or not, he might just be in a natural coma and not waking up. So, you need to ask those questions.

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. It’s exactly what you are up against here.

I would strongly recommend for you to get access to the medical records, Alexandra, so that we can give you a second opinion here as well. Because again, you don’t know what you don’t know. When someone is in intensive care in a situation like your dad is, there are dozens of things happening simultaneously. Unless an expert has a look at them and evaluates them like we do here, you don’t really know what’s happening. You’re just not even scratching the surface with what is happening when someone is critically ill in intensive care.

So, that is my quick tip for today.

I have worked in critical care nursing for nearly 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years where I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care all over the world here at intensivecarehotline.com since 2013. I can confidently say we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy. You can verify that on our testimonial section or on our podcast section at intensivecarehotline.com where we have done some client interviews. All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com, the testimonials as well as the podcasts.

That’s why we created a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care. You can become a member, like we helped hundreds of members and clients over the years, improving their lives instantly when they have a loved one critically ill 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 question intensive care related. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded. Once you’re a member, you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

I also 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 can’t afford to get wrong.

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. When I talk to doctors and nurses directly over the phone with you or on your behalf, 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.

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, 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 and you will get notification for the YouTube live if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel or if you are a subscriber to our intensivecarehotline.com email newsletter at intensivecarehotline.com. Also, share this video with your friends and families.

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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