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Today's article is about, “Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care: What Medical Records to Request from an LTAC (Long-Term Acute Care) If You Want to Pursue a Medical Negligence Case?”
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Quick Tip for Families in Intensive Care:
What Medical Records to Request from an LTAC (Long-Term Acute Care) If You Want to Pursue a Medical Negligence Case?
What
evidence would you want to collect to pursue a potential medical negligence case against an LTAC (Long-Term Acute Care) in the US? That’s today’s topic.
My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and this is another quick tip for families in intensive care.
In my last
video, I talked about if LTAC in the US don’t provide ICU care for a ventilated and tracheostomy patient, is it medical
negligence?
Following on from that, we had a few questions from US subscribers and clients coming in. What would be the evidence to collect? Then let’s break that down.
Number 1 would be medical records. A complete set of medical records and request all of the following: admission records, reasons for
transfer to LTAC, initial patient condition, daily progress notes, doctor and nurse notes, respiratory therapies, etc., ventilator checks, tracheostomy care, oxygen levels, suctioning, vital sign logs, anytime there were drops in oxygen, saturation, blood pressure, etc. Medication records, especially sedatives, antibiotics, emergency drugs, but all medication records would be important. Ventilator logs, alarms, triggered mode changes, settings, and documentation of ventilator management,
emergency response records. Medical emergencies or code blues called, rapid response team notes, if any. Transfer requests or 911 calls or the absence of them. God forbid, death summary certificate important for cause of death listed. Also look at whether they were contemplating an autopsy.
Never ask just for a summary. Ask for the entire chart and say, all handwritten and electronic notes, respiratory logs monitored, and
monitored data.
Next, ask for policies and protocols. Ask in writing for the LTAC’s policy for managing tracheostomy patients on ventilators, their emergency transfer policy when patients deteriorate. If they refuse to give it, your lawyer or attorney can subpoena it later, but asking now shows that you are serious.
That is why I am always saying, every
hospital, every LTAC works with policies and procedures. Nothing is going to happen in a hospital and in an LTAC without any policy or procedure. The best analogy that I can always give because I have worked in a hospital for so long, mopping the floor, cleaning the window has a policy so ventilation and tracheostomy care definitely has a policy.
Next, staffing information. You want
to find out nurse to patient ratios. At the time it should not be one nurse for ten ventilated patients, but it is often is in the LTAC. That shows our experience.
Next, qualifications of staff. Were there licensed respiratory therapist on site? Did they have critical care trained nurses that are ventilator and tracheostomy competent? Understaff or untrained staff is often a major
negligence point especially in LTACs.
Next, witness accounts. If you or others witnessed anything such as alarms being ignored, delays in care, visible distress of patients without response, write it down while it is still fresh, date, time, what you saw or heard, names of staff, if possible, that were involved. Family observations can be powerful evidence.
Number 5, communication records. Save any emails, texts or messages between you and the facility, notes from meetings or calls from doctor’s meeting or from administrators especially if you raise concerns that were brushed off.
Number 6, expert review. Malpractice attorney will
usually hire pulmonologist, critical care nurse specialist or LTAC experts to review the records. Get an expert opinion on whether the standard of care were breached. You don’t need the expert yet. First, focus on gathering the documentation. We are the experts here and we do
medical reviews that focus on medical negligence here at intensivecarehotline.com.
Lastly, start building a simple timeline of events. Date of LTAC admission, or any worsening events i.e. respiratory distress, drop in blood pressure, drop in oxygen level, etc. Dates, times of family visits or calls, date and
time of death if that is what you are pursuing here. It will help the lawyer or attorney to see the sequence of the negligence.
What have I been saying for over 10 years here on this channel? Never let your loved one go from ICU to LTAC. Things will go from bad to worse, patients often being bounced back to ICU in less than 24 to 48 hours because they’re simply not ready. LTACS are not equipped to
look after ventilated and tracheostomy patients. Patients go from ICU level to standard of care that is not even the better version of a nursing home. Staff are not critical care trained, doctors are not on site. The only alternative of going to LTAC is to use Intensive Care at Home, but never let your loved one go to LTAC, you’ll regret it. Let me know what you think.
I have worked in critical nursing for 25 years in three different countries where I worked as a manager for over five years in critical care and I have been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com and I can very
confidently say that we have saved many lives for our clients and their families in intensive care.
You can verify that if you can go to our testimonial section at intesivecarehotline.com or you can go to our intensivehotline.com podcast section where we have done clients interviews.
Our advice is absolutely life changing. Like I said, we have saved many, many lives for our clients in intensive care. You can join a growing number of clients and members that we have helped over the years, hundreds of them.
Again, you can look up our testimonial section, our podcast section. We’ve helped
hundreds and hundreds of members and clients over the years to improve their lives instantly when they have a loved one critically ill and intensive care, but making sure they make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, influence, making sure they’re loved ones always get best care and treatment.
That is why I do one-on-one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, 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 cannot afford to get wrong. When I talk to you one on one directly, I
set you up with the right questions to ask. I walk you through the intensive care experience, step by step. I will tell you what to expect, what to look for.
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, and that’s exactly what you are up against.
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 in intensive care, 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 an intensive care team so that you do have professional advocacy in family meetings and during family meetings, so you know what to ask, how to present yourself so that you don’t
get walked all over.
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 or LTAC so that if you have any unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.
We also have membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, and you can become a member if you go to to intensivecarehotline.com, if you click on the membership link, or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the 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 eBooks, 21 videos that I’ve personally written and recorded that are exclusively accessible only for our members.
And all of that will 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 with your questions.
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Share the video with your friends and families, comment below what you want to see next, what questions and insights you
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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.
