Claire checked her phone and smiled. "No rush. We still have five minutes. Go ahead and get the tests started.”
"Dr. Lawler, the patient's stable for now," she added calmly.
Lawler's frustration only grew at how relaxed she seemed. "Stable? Because you say so? Are you even a real doctor?"
He shot a glare at Claire, then turned to the family. "Where did you even find this girl? All she's done is make things worse."
"My mentor already explained that the patient's condition is late-stage. If you don't want treatment, that's your call. But if you bring in some random traditional medicine practitioner and things go wrong, that's on you. Everything my mentor did will be for nothing."
Lawler's distrust of traditional medicine showed in every word.
Chrystal looked worried and leaned toward Jennifer, whispering, "Maybe we should just have Claire take the needles out?"
She was usually the one caring for their father since her sisters were always busy. The orthopedic specialist she picked for him was one of the best in the country. Naturally, his top student should be amazing too.
Still, hearing Lawler sound so serious made Chrystal hesitate. Deep down, she trusted modern medicine way more.
Jennifer's patience snapped. Was Chrystal always this quick to back down?
"No way!” Jennifer said, refusing to give in. She turned to Claire. "Don't mind Chrystal. She just doesn't know how good you are.”
Claire just smiled and shook her head. "I'm not upset."
She understood. If Jennifer hadn't seen her save someone before, she'd probably doubt her too.
Lawler's face darkened. He could tell his words weren't sinking in.
"If you don't trust doctors, why bring him to the hospital at all? If you believe so much in traditional medicine, let them treat him. But if anything happens from now on, the hospital is not responsible."
Now Chrystal looked embarrassed "Dr. Lawler, it's not like we wanted to switch doctors all of a sudden. At- was an emergency situation Please try to understand."
"We still want you to handle his treatment moving forward..."
Claire interrupted gently. "Dr. Lawler, are you really so sure that acupuncture can't help at all?"
He seemed set in his beliefs, almost offended by the idea.
"What help could it possibly be?" Lawler's tone was icy.
Claire met his gaze, completely unbothered. "How about a bet?"
Lawler stared at her like she was ridiculous. “I'm not gambling with my patient's life. And you shouldn't either."
His eyes were hard, like he was looking through Claire at someone else entirely, his dislike for traditional medicine running deep.
Claire guessed there was a story behind that.
"I just want to prove you wrong," she said quietly. "Or maybe, Dr. Lawler, you've misunderstood traditional medicine more than you realize."
He just scoffed, refusing to argue. Years of mistrust didn't disappear after a few words.
"Dr. Lawler, you have the patient's previous reports, right? Based on what the family described during the episode, you know this condition was getting worse fast."
Lawler finally looked at her with some respect. "If you knew he was getting worse, then you understand how dangerous it is to delay proper treatment."
Claire stayed calm, her voice steady. "Whether I delayed anything or not... let's wait until after the tests to see."