She placed the document back into her briefcase, clicked the locks shut, and turned to face my parents. She stood at her full height, physically inserting herself between them and my hospital bed, acting as an impenetrable shield.
“No, sir,” Naomi said, her voice dropping the temperature in the room by ten degrees. “I am not an insurance lawyer. I am Naomi Vance, Senior Partner at Vance & Sterling. And as of ten seconds ago, I am Sarah’s sole legal and medical proxy.”
My mother’s face scrunched in confusion. “Medical proxy? What are you talking about? Are you crazy, Sarah? I am your mother! I am your next of kin! I have the legal right to decide everything regarding your care!”
Naomi didn’t flinch. She reached back into her briefcase and pulled out a second, thicker document.
“You used to have that right, Mrs. Davis,” Naomi said, her eyes narrowing with the lethal precision of a predator closing in on its prey. “Until thirty seconds ago. But medical proxy isn’t all she just stripped from your hands.”
