Interview 20 - Intensive care: family experiences

Age at interview: 60

Brief Outline:

In 2004 his wife and her mother spent six months in hospital and was admitted to ICU three times because of sepsis and heart problems.

Background:

Part-time minister/social worker, full-time carer, married with one adult daughter. Daughter: Hostels officer. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.

For more clips from this interview click here.

The husband and daughter of a woman in intensive care chose to not resuscitate her because they felt she would not have wanted to survive in a severely disabled state.

Daughter - Basically the other guy [consultant] had told us that she was very ill and probably...

Husband - It wasn't looking good, yes.

 

Daughter - He said, “It wasn't looking good and to be honest I am not sure she will be coming home” is what he said. 

 

Husband - Hm. 

 

Daughter - But by the time we got to the relatives room, which is about two, about three days later, he sort of, I mean you know we made the agreement that if she had another heart attack they wouldn't resuscitate her. 

 

Husband - That was the other thing he said in that interview, you know that was their feeling that they shouldn't attempt to resuscitate her. 

 

Daughter - Yes which was fine. 

 

Did they ask you should they attempt to resuscitate her. What did you say at that point? 

 

Husband - Well basically we took his advice and said well… 

 

Daughter - Well there was no point was there. 

 

Husband - No. No. We wouldn't want her to be resuscitated just to be a vegetable. She wouldn't like that. 

 

Daughter - We had also come to terms with it, I mean really by that point, because we were sort of aware that she was very poorly you know.