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Officer Brianne Carlson served the City of Detroit for nine years with integrity, courage, and an unwavering commitment to truth. When she was diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer, she fought with that same strength. As walking became more difficult, she continued to show up to appointments. If she had to move, she did, even when it meant crawling. She trusted her doctors to be honest with her, and she believed she was being treated.
Brianne knew her cancer was metastatic. She knew it was serious. From the beginning, she was told it was treatable, with radiation and chemotherapy presented as active options. In July, when she asked her oncologist directly if she was going to die, she was told that while it was possible, he did not foresee that happening. At one point, the word remission was used.
What Brianne did not know was that her condition was deteriorating, that treatment was no longer working, and that multiple clinicians were privately documenting a poor prognosis while continuing to tell her she was still treatable.
Between September 8 and September 18, that silence cost her everything.
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Between September 8 and September 12, while Brianne was hospitalized at Henry Ford Rochester Hills, multiple clinicians documented serious concerns in internal notes. They questioned her ability to tolerate further chemotherapy, described her prognosis as poor, and noted that meaningful benefit from continued treatment was unlikely. One physician documented that she could not be treated at that time. Another noted that continued delay made hospice increasingly likely.
None of this was shared with Brianne or her family.
These assessments did not appear on standard discharge paperwork. They were not explained during rounds or care discussions. They existed only in clinician-facing notes that patients do not see unless they intentionally download their entire medical record.
After Brianne's death, I logged into her patient portal and downloaded her complete hospitalization record from September 8 through September 12. It was 136 pages long. That is where these conclusions were found.
Brianne never saw them. She never heard them.
During this same period, her records documented altered mental status and decreased level of consciousness. A physician certification statement reflected these findings. Family members witnessed auditory and visual hallucinations. At least one registered nurse witnessed them as well. These symptoms were not fully documented, and no formal reassessment of decision-making capacity occurred.
Despite this, Brianne was asked to consent to high-risk chemotherapy.
Consent obtained while a patient's capacity is impaired, and while critical information is withheld, is not informed consent.