Fredenalda Price went in for what doctors called a routine outpatient cardiac catheterization at the Kansas City VA Medical Center in February. She never came home. Now, about six months and 11 days later, her family is demanding answers after Missouri officials amended her death certificate, changing the manner of death from natural to accident because of complications from the procedure itself.
Price, a 57-year-old wife, mother and Army veteran known to her family as Stormy, had been diagnosed with kidney failure and was reportedly on track to receive a new kidney when she underwent the elective procedure on February 20, according to FOX4 Kansas City. Her daughter, Jocelyn Price, told the outlet that during the procedure a KCVA doctor dissected her mother's artery. Jocelyn Price said she had told the doctor to stop if her mother was in pain.
Medical records reviewed by the family noted an issue involving the intra-aortic balloon pump used during the emergency, which reportedly failed because of a helium leak, and showed a network outage in the cath lab during the code and procedure that Jocelyn Price said lasted more than 15 minutes, per the same account. The account also cites an article from Ovid.
A Federal Warning That Predates the Procedure
The device involved in Price's case belongs to a category the federal government had already flagged. The FDA issued a Letter to Health Care Providers in May 2024 urging hospitals to transition away from Getinge/Datascope Cardiosave Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps because of persistent safety risks, including helium gas leaks and unexpected shutdowns that interrupt cardiac therapy, according to the FDA. According to a June 13, 2024, FDA recall notice, a Getinge CardioSave pump alarm indicating helium leakage may signal that Teleflex Arrow FiberOptix and UltraFlex intra-aortic balloon catheters are not performing as expected.
Separately, catheter-induced iatrogenic coronary artery dissection — the kind of injury the family says occurred during Price's procedure — is a rare complication of cardiac catheterization, occurring in less than 0.1% of cases, but it carries a significant risk of severe morbidity or cardiac mortality, according to a 2024 study published in PubMed Central. The term iatrogenic refers to harm accidentally caused by a physician, surgeon, medical treatment or diagnostic procedure, the outlet noted.
Price was reported to have no brain activity and failing organs following the emergency, and the family says the VA declined to perform an autopsy on the day she died. VA doctors did sign an authorization for autopsy, and the family says they hired a private pathologist within five days of her death. Jocelyn Price said she was not her mother's next of kin.
Private Findings Clash With Internal Reviews
The private autopsy report listed contributing conditions tied to Price's underlying diseases but cited the cause of death as iatrogenic complications of cardiac catheterization. The family says that finding contradicted what KCVA had initially reported, and Missouri later corrected Price's death certificate, according to the family. In August, the manner of death was officially changed from natural to accident.
The family alleges KCVA failed to report the adverse events to the medical examiner and originally attributed the death to natural causes rather than referring the case for outside investigation. Under Missouri law, deaths resulting from non-natural causes, medical misadventures or unexpected surgical complications must be referred to the county medical examiner rather than certified as natural by facility staff, per the Missouri General Assembly. The Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office, which handles forensic death investigations for Kansas City, requires hospitals and law enforcement to report all sudden, unexpected or non-natural deaths occurring within the county, according to the Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office. According to the Jackson County Autopsy Division, deaths that are apparently non-natural and occur while a person is in the custody of a local, state or federal institution fall within its listed criteria.
Jocelyn Price claimed there were inconsistencies about what happened and when, and the family has accused KCVA of trying to cover up what happened to her mother. They have requested her full medical records as they push for a clear explanation of what occurred during the procedure.
VA Says Reviews Found No Fault
KCVA has pushed back on the family's characterization. A spokesperson for the medical center said the facility found that all applicable standards of care were followed, per the FOX4 report. The VA Office of Inspector General and The Joint Commission both reviewed the case and reported no adverse findings, according to a VA statement cited by the outlet.
The Kansas City VA Medical Center is located at 4801 Linwood Boulevard, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA says it remains committed to patient safety, transparency and accountability.
Price served in the Army and worked as a federal employee for decades. She was a Hawaii native who had been married for 37 years before her death. Since her passing, her son has helped raise more than $30,000 for the Service Women's Action Network, a national nonpartisan organization established in 2008 that advocates for active-duty women and female veterans on issues including healthcare access, military sexual trauma and VA systemic reform, according to the Service Women's Action Network.
What Comes Next
Any legal path forward for the Price family runs through federal, not state, courts. Under federal law, individuals seeking compensation for alleged medical malpractice at a VA facility must file an administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act using Standard Form 95 within a two-year statute of limitations from when the claim accrued, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. While Missouri's civil wrongful death actions typically carry a three-year statute of limitations, lawsuits against federal healthcare workers at VA facilities proceed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, with state malpractice law applying in federal court, per legal guidance published by SWL Injury Lawyers.
For now, the Price family says they are focused on getting a full account of what happened to Stormy inside the KCVA cath lab, and on holding the facility accountable for how it handled the aftermath. They say they remain committed to creating meaningful change in her honor.
