Suzette Esfahani

Suzette, a character in the Open Heart series, is a patient at Edenbrook Hospital. She makes her official appearance in Book 3, Chapter 3.

Appearance
Suzette has brown eyes, long curly dark brown hair, and tan skin. Her casual outfit consists of a white blouse, pink sweater, and gold necklace with pearl pendant and gold bird.

Personality
Suzette is a generally optimistic cheerful person who tries to see the best side of things.

Book 3

 * Chapter 3: Look on the Bright Side
 * Chapter 4: Power Struggles
 * Chapter 6: Checks and Balances (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 8: The Die Is Cast (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 9: Build Up (Mentioned; Determinant)
 * Chapter 12: Steady Hand (Mentioned)

Your Character
Suzette is the team's patient who was admitted after fainting in the middle of her office for the third time this week. When you and Harper interview her, she tells you that when she was thirty, she found out she had ovarian cancer and had a radical hysterectomy, which prevented her and her husband from having children. Instead of dwelling on that, she tries to be the best aunt she can be to her sister's children and volunteers at her local crisis nursery.

After doing some blood tests and a full body scan, you find out that Suzette has amyloidosis but there is no cure and the best you can aim for is to slow its development. This news saddens Suzette. She asks about organ transplants but you tell her she is not a good candidate for transplant as her disease would affect her new organs, and she would be placed on the bottom of the transplant list. She feels angry and hopeless, but if you decide to put on a superhero costume and visit the pediatric ward, Suzette will put on a costume too and accompany you, cheering herself and the children. After the visit, she is more hopeful. She is discharged but is admitted back by Leland when she agrees to join a pilot study he launched to study conditions like hers. He places her back under the diagnostics team's care.

In Chapter 4, you discover that she has been assigned to the control group. That means if the trial drug ends up being the cure to her illness, she will not receive it; she will only receive placebos. You have the choice to join Ethan in inviting her to dinner to talk to her about the study. If you do, you admit to her that the study will not help her with her illness and convince her to withdraw from the trial and go back to her regular treatment.

In Chapter 6, you feel that Leland is retaliating against you and the team by assigning the group to run tests on John, a patient that has already been diagnosed with cutaneous porphyria.

Ethan Ramsey
When Suzette is readmitted and placed under the team's care, Ethan is infuriated. He does not agree with Leland's approach or sales tactic that convinced Suzette to join a clinical study that may or may not help her. He feels that delaying her treatment with standard medication and care is not in her best interest and wants her to withdraw from the study. With or without you, he speaks to Suzette and convinces her to heed his advice and return to her regular treatment. When Leland finds out, Ethan takes full responsibility and leaves your name out of it.

Trivia

 * The name Suzette is one for girls of French and Hebrew origin and means "lily" or "rose". It's a variant of the names Susanna and Suzanne.