Op-Ed: A year of ‘I’m sorry’ — for your loss and the pandemic rules that cloud hospital care
![Illustration showing hands reaching across Zoom screens](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e02f233/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2385x1548+0+0/resize/1200x779!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F37%2F89%2Fe81e1ebc483bbafe0b93c5ad922b%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-header.jpg)
Constantly changing rules regarding hospital visitation mean many people can only reach out to patients via video.
(Nathan Gray / For The Times)
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Gray is an assistant professor of medicine and palliative care at Duke University School of Medicine and an artist who draws comics on medical topics. @NathanAGray
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![Nathan Gray hospital visitation rules during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/968179c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1159x1500+0+0/resize/1200x1553!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2F4d%2Fb5327d74402e8c6647a3202fc6e7%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-2.jpg)
![Nathan Gray hospital visitation rules during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/736c2da/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1159x1500+0+0/resize/1200x1553!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F15%2F61%2Fec1afb00487b8551e518f46087a8%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-3.jpg)
![Nathan Gray hospital visitation rules during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/660ec40/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1159x1500+0+0/resize/1200x1553!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3c%2Fce%2F16fad0de4809ba0138979420291d%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-4.jpg)
![Nathan Gray hospital visitation rules during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/282d04c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1159x1500+0+0/resize/1200x1553!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff3%2F9a%2F4ade973441f6a00db9d66cb64672%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-5.jpg)
![Nathan Gray hospital visitation rules during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/aa2c4ec/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1159x1500+0+0/resize/1200x1553!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F5f%2Fb0a5a9db43cf9f44e8161005630c%2Foe-gray-pandemic-hospital-visitation-rules-6.jpg)
(Nathan Gray / For The Times)
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