🏥 Freeman Health System

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"You're fine," they said. As her heart failed.

Freeman Health System, a regional hospital in Missouri, became an unexpected but pivotal player in Nicole's story. Positioned as a place for answers, Freeman instead became the site of one of the most negligent oversights in her cardiac timeline. Despite obvious signs of heart dysfunction, they gaslit, delayed, and ultimately vanished.

Nicole went to Freeman armed with evidence. She asked for an MRI to assess a suspected adrenal tumor and ASMA testing to help confirm autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) — but those requests were ignored.

Instead, they ordered an echocardiogram... and then ignored that too.

• At Nicole’s request, the visit to Freeman had a clear agenda: assess the adrenal growth seen on MRCP and investigate autoimmune hepatitis.
• She specifically asked for:
  
  • MRI (to evaluate the adrenal lesion)
  • ASMA testing (to help confirm AIH — which KU had already begun to pursue)
• Instead, Dr. Amanda Harrell ordered 58 labs almost all of which were completely unrelated to the patients true underlying health conditions, an echocardiogram, and zero of the tests requested.
• The MRI was never ordered. ASMA wasn’t even mentioned.
• No explanation was provided — just a redirection to psychiatric framing.

Nicole tried to lead them to the answers. They chose a different path. One that went nowhere.

• Nicole underwent an echocardiogram at Freeman due to persistent symptoms including bile vomiting, fatigue, and signs of heart failure.
• The test revealed right atrial enlargement, elevated right atrial pressure (RAP = 15 mmHg), and a dilated inferior vena cava (2.57 cm).
• Also showed signs of mitral valve stenosis — likely progressive since a February 2019 echo showed a normal mitral valve area.
• These results should have prompted immediate referral to cardiology.

But instead, she got a call from a nurse. "Everything looks fine." That was the end of it.

• Dr. Amanda Harrell was promoted to Chief Medical Officer of Freeman the day before Nicole’s echo.
• Whether she reviewed the results herself is unclear, but what followed was administrative silence.
• 13 days after the test, and only because Nicole herself followed up, the nurse dismissed the findings as non-issues.

Bureaucratic sleight of hand disguised as care.

• The November 8, 2024 echocardiogram, ordered by Freeman, wasn’t meant to help Nicole — but it did.
• It objectively confirmed long-suspected damage from two lipid emboli that occurred September 3, 2019 AFTER Nicole's ERCP.
• The enlarged IVC and elevated RAP supported her right-sided heart damage timeline.
• It also revealed progressive mitral valve narrowing, likely worsened by chronic hormonal imbalance from untreated ACC.

They handed us the proof they tried to bury. By accident.

• No record of cardiology referral despite abnormal echo.
• No documentation of any concern or further testing.
• No explanation ever given for the severe IVC dilation or elevated RAP.

Right atrial overload doesn’t just fix itself. It gets worse — or worse, gets ignored.

"We saw it. We ignored it. We moved on."

"Compassionate care, until you're inconvenient."

"We'll call you if it's real. Otherwise, good luck."

Freeman Health System wasn’t where it all began — but it’s where it could have stopped. Had Nicole’s echocardiogram been interpreted with urgency and integrity, her path might have changed. But instead of intervention, she received dismissal. Not just of her symptoms, but of her humanity.

And ironically, years later, Freeman would provide the very test that proved it all. The echo that echoed louder than their denials.

They didn’t just ignore the echo. They echoed the ignorance.

Symbol: Staff of Caduceus — for the authority they exercised and the voice they silenced.
Status: Under Public Review.
Exposure Begins: July 2, 2025, 9:00 AM.