“Grow up, Ms. Lemonopolous. Otherwise I’m giving Mrs. Ceepak back her retainer check. I can’t win this thing with one hand tied behind my back.”
Christine closes her eyes. “Okay. But this is pretty horrible.”
Christine is ready to talk.
“Shona Oppenheimer wanted me to, more or less, spy on my other home health care client, Dr. Arnold Rosen.”
“The dentist?” says Nussbaum. “Why?”
“Shona’s sister, Judith, is married to Dr. Rosen’s oldest son, David.”
“And?” He does the gimme-gimme gesture again.
“Shona told Judith to recommend me for the position at her father-in-law’s house.”
“Why?” The lawyer scribbles something on his legal pad.
“They wanted me in Dr. Rosen’s house so I could find out stuff.”
Nussbaum looks like he’s about to turn purple again. “Stuff?”
“Dr. Rosen is a very private man,” Christine explains. “He won’t allow family members to accompany him when he visits his doctors. He also refuses to sign the HIPAA forms that would give medical professionals permission to talk to his children about … anything.”
“Does he let you go into the exam rooms with him?”
“Yes. But only because I’m an RN. And I have to leave if, you know, the doctor puts on a glove and asks Dr. Rosen to …”
Marty give her another spin of his hand. TMI-Too Much Information. Time to move on.
“Judith, that’s Shona’s sister …”
“Yeah, I got that bit.” Nussbaum circles what he had written earlier on the legal pad.
“Judith was worried about her father-in-law’s medical condition. I could understand. I mean, if my parents were ninety-four, I’d want to know everything I could about their health.”
“But Dr. Rosen didn’t want his kids knowing diddly?”
“That’s right. And since he used to be a dentist, he reminded me of my own oath as a nurse. Our code of ethics.”
Ceepak’s eyes light up the way they do whenever somebody else mentions their Code.
“Enlighten me,” says Nussbaum.