u/GeneralFrievolous

My grandfather (80 years old) will soon receive an ICD due to a severe heart failure he suffered last week and a decades long frail cardiological situation.

Doctors, however, aren't very optimistic about the procedure. They told him that the risk of endocarditis, complications and infections is very high, so much so that the choice between getting the ICD and living day by day with the risk of sudden cardiac arrest isn't that clear-cut, in their opinion.

He chose to do it anyway, and we agree with him because an infection is a more nuanced threat compared to cardiac arrest: the former could even be mild and treatable with just antibiotics, the latter would always be a dice throw for his life.

Moreover, as far as I know, an ICD option isn't even offered to begin with if the patient isn't expected to survive heart failure for at least a year, so it's not even some kind of desperate effort to prolong his life by just a few months.

Are doctors being overdramatic or trying to preemptively wash their hands in some way? Otherwise why would they even offer him a choice if the surgery carries so many risks?

Thank you all for reading this so far.

Hello, first of all I wish you all a good day.

My 80 years old grandfather last Saturday was hospitalized for heart failure, they treated him and in the past days he recovered well, they gradually removed all the medications (beyond those he already used to take) and, thankfully, he seems to be fine in general. He's still in the HDU, but just because he needs a heart monitor and the antibiotics to fight off bronchopneumonia.

Now doctors are evaluating whether to implant an ICD, a pacemaker or, if his heart is too compromised for either implant, continue with only medications.

To be honest, I'm really scared by this whole situation, and I'm afraid my family is being reticent or in denial about the bigger picture and that all this might just be done to give him a few weeks or months of life instead of allowing him, with the appropriate treatments and implants, to put this scary mess behind him.

What can I expect for the future? Are things as grim as I fear?

Thank you all for reading this and sorry for sounding so desperate/ranty.