Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomies by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!

In the last blog I shared

How to be more Client and family focused when looking after long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies!

You can check out last week’s blog here!

In this week’s blog I want to share a real world story of 2 year old Mirranda who’s currently in Intensive Care.

Parents of 2 year-old on life support fight to bring her home!

Her parents are trying to bring her home from Intensive Care after she choked on a popcorn kernel a couple of months ago.

The story is likely to spark some controversy around how, when and where to prolong life and who is making the decisions!

No matter where you stand with your opinion in regards to whether life should be prolonged or not, it certainly highlights the fact that more and more people want their loved ones at home, even when on life support!

The undeniable fact of the matter is that people want to have choice around their loved one’s care no matter the circumstances!

Check out this article here and read the full story

http://www.wusa9.com/news/

RICHMOND, Va. (WUSA9) — The parents of a two-year old girl on life support at VCU Medical Center for nearly two months are now asking that the hospital allow them to take her home for continued care and treatment, the latest development in a protracted legal battle over the girl’s care.

Mirranda Grace Lawson choked on a popcorn kernel on May 11th at her home in Woodbridge. Doctors at VCU Medical Center stabilized her, but an initial test indicated she might have suffered permanent brain damage. When doctors attempted a second test to confirm whether Lawson was permanently brain dead, the family protested, saying it would cause further damage.

Lawson’s father, Patrick Lawson, also believed the hospital might use a failed test as means to move Mirranda Grace off life support, something he could not accept.

Lawson, along with attorney Philip Menke of Manassas, eventually obtained a temporary order delaying the test, and have run a series of delaying actions in the courts to give Mirranda time, they hope, to recover. Already they say she requires less medication, and has seen improvements in blood pressure and other vital signs when her mother reads scripture, or when she hears Elvis, her favorite artist.

Mirranda’s family, now backed by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, and a $30,000 bond taken out by Lawson, will now have their day in front of the Virginia Supreme Court, who will ultimately determine whether a test can be ordered.

“I’m not rich. I can’t hold them off forever, Lawson told WUSA9 on Thursday. “Eventually they’re going to take everything I got. I just hope they don’t take my daughter’s life.”

Now the Lawson’s are asking for the hospital to give Mirranda appropriate feeding and breathing tubes so that they can take her home, or to a long term care facility.

A representative of the hospital declined WUSA9’s interview request, but in a statement acknowledged the “difficult situation” all parties now find themselves in.

“In the nearly two months Mirranda Lawson has been in the VCU Medical Center pediatric critical care unit, her expert and compassionate medical team has provided around-the- clock, highly-specialized critical care that cannot be given in a home setting,” a hospital spokesperson wrote. “Other agencies and hospitals have reviewed her case and are either not able to support her intensive care needs or they indicated they would not do anything different than what is already being done.”

Supported by the Ronald McDonald House, prayers from around the world, and Lawson’s dwindling insurance and savings, the family has established a GoFundMe page to help fund her care, including a nurse who would be needed for as many as 12 hours a day.

“I have the lord on my side, he keeps telling me to fight,” Lawson said Thursday. “Mirranda keeps getting better. If she’s fighting, how can I give up?”

What are your thoughts? Do you think the parents have a right to challenge the hospital and the doctors?

Leave your comments on the blog!

For more information, you can contact me on 041 094 2230 or email [email protected]

We are also currently hiring enthusiastic and experienced Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for ventilated Clients in Melbourne.

We would also like to hear from you if you have a minimum of 2 years Paediatric ICU experience, as we have opportunities here as well!

For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers or contact Patrik on 041 094 2230 or simply hit reply to this email.

You can also contact me on 041 094 2230 if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.

Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!