Dr. Rachel Bedard

And some of those security concerns are really well justified, and some aren't.

One of the first patients I had with advanced cancer, I went to visit him while he was in the hospital, incarcerated.

There was a corrections officer sitting outside his room.

He had told me he really likes Skittles, the patient.

I brought Skittles.

I had to open my bag and show the officer what was in my bag before I was allowed in the room.

And I was too sort of junior to know that I should play it cool.

And I said, I brought him Skittles.

And the guy said, he's not allowed to have those.

And I said, why?

And he said, well, Skittles aren't on commissary.

So he's not allowed to have things that aren't on commissary.

That's like obviously not a real security concern, right?

That's just a rule.

And that's not a law, you know, even though the guy saying it to me is in a uniform.

And I was like, I'm going to give him the Skittles.

You know, and you can imagine that that's hard to do.

And you have to have like a fair amount, you have to really feel empowered by the folks who run the healthcare side of things to be able to use your judgment like that.

And I was super lucky in who my bosses were.

I was there for COVID.