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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
The little girl trapped between hospital and home!
You can check out last week’s blog here!
In this week’s blog I want to share another story that made headlines around the world in the last few weeks and months and this week I want to discuss
Charlie Gard, the little baby who wasn’t allowed to die at home!
Charlie Gard and his parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates have made numerous headlines in the last few months.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates have made desperate pleas to the authorities, including the UK high court as well as to the European court of human rights to try and safe their baby boy’s life whilst he was in PICU in London/UK.
They have raised about $1.7 Million to get baby Charlie experimental treatment in the US but the high court in the UK didn’t allow the transport to the US.
Even their last desperate plea to let baby Charlie die at home was denied by the courts.
Initially the judge ruled that Charlie must die in a hospital or hospice and that dying at home wasn’t an option, apparently because a ventilator for Charlie wouldn’t fit into their house.
The baby’s mother, Connie Yates, as saying that the hospital had “denied us our final wish.”
She added: “We just want some peace with our son, no hospital, no lawyers, no courts, no media, just quality time with Charlie away from everything to say goodbye to him in the most loving way.
“Most people won’t ever have to go through what we have been through: We’ve had no control over our son’s life and no control over our son’s death.”
The question of when and where he should die — and how long he should be kept alive — became another source of acrimony between the parents and the institution responsible for his care, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London UK.
The parents had said that their last wish was to spend several days at home with Charlie before his life support was removed. But Great Ormond Street Hospital said that the “invasive ventilation” over several days required a team of intensive care specialists and that the Gard family home was unlikely to be able to meet his needs.
Now, from my experience a judge claiming that a ventilator “wouldn’t fit into their home in West London” is complete and utter nonsense.
Mechanical ventilators usually fit through all doors, we have worked with many Patients at home on ventilators, including oxygen generators, which are much bigger than ventilators, therefore the judge and the high court in the UK have no idea what they were talking about. Another bunch of bureaucrats trying to deny a family a basic human right to have their son die on their terms.
Eventually, the high court came forward offering the family to seek out Intensive Care specialists who could provide the family with home care and they couldn’t find any Intensive Care specialists willing to help them.
What a shame that nobody could offer end of life care for Baby Charlie that the parents wanted for their baby.
We believe that we could have offered this service for Baby Charlie and his parents.
Again, 75% of people in first world countries want to die at home if given a choice and yet less than 15% of people actually do die at home.
Will we now have the courts ruling where and in which circumstances people are allowed to die?
What do you think, do you think baby Charlie should have been allowed to die at home in dignity?
Leave your comments on the blog!
Find more media exposure about Baby Charlie here
http://www.trunews.com/article/charlie-gard-has-died
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-40752120
If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care or Long-term acute care (also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.
Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230
USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090
UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018
Also, check out our careers section here
www.intensivecareathome.com/careers
We are an NDIS, TAC(Victoria) and DVA(Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.
We are also part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program
https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator
https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/
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!
RELATED LINKS:
3 reasons why long term mechanically ventilated Customers, their families and Intensive Care Units need specialised Intensive Home Care Nursing services in the community
How long should a Patient be on a ventilator before having a Tracheostomy?
Majority of Australians not dying the way they want to, Grattan Institute report finds, as care becomes more institutionalised!
Travelling with long-term ventilated adults on a ventilator with tracheostomy, not a gimmick but a reality!
INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME: Better home care solutions for long-term ventilated adults & children with tracheostomies!
