Coronavirus warrior Dr Lorna Breen, the medical director of New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital's emergency department, who resumed work after recovering from coronavirus, killed herself by committing suicide at Charlottesville.
Dr Breen, who was on the frontlines battling the rush of coronavirus patients at her hospital, had contracted the virus. Following her recovery, the 49-year-old doctor resumed the work, only to be sent back again by the hospital authorities. The doctor then went to stay with her sister in Charlottesville.
Dr Breen was overwhelmed with the high number of Coronavirus cases
Speaking to Daily News, spokesman for the local police department, Tyler Hawn, revealed that police received a call for medical help. Dr Breen, who had self-inflicted injuries, was rushed to the UVA Health System University Hospital where she succumbed.
Calling his daughter, a true hero, Dr Philip Breen, told New York Times that Dr Breen did not suffer from any mental illness and did not have any history of depression. "She gave what she had, and she's a casualty of the war in the trenches, as far as I'm concerned. She's a true hero," said the senior Dr Breen adding that the number of coronavirus cases managed by his daughter were overwhelming.
"She stayed home about a week and a half, but I think she felt guilty about not being at work. The last time I talked to her was before she went in for her 12-hour shift that she couldn't finish," said the father adding, "Just before she went back, she said that the ambulance had been waiting outside the building for over three hours with sick people. They couldn't even get the people out of the ambulances in there."
Friends and colleagues remember Dr Breen
Stating that her daughter ran out of 'emotional gas', the bereaving father recalled Dr Breen as being a very outgoing and energetic person. "I don't know what snapped, but something blew up in her, and so she ended up taking her own life. She tried to do her job, and it killed her. Make sure she's praised as a hero, because she was. She's a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died," he told the publication.
In a public statement issued on Monday, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian while hailing the tireless devotion of Dr Breen towards her work, said: "Dr. Breen is a hero who brought the highest ideals of medicine to the challenging front lines of the emergency department. Words cannot convey the sense of loss we feel today. The hospital would focus on providing support to her family, friends, and colleagues as they cope with this news during what is already an extraordinarily difficult time."
According to New York Times in an email sent to the hospital staffers, Dr Angela Mills, head of emergency medical services for several New York-Presbyterian campuses while sharing family's request for privacy, wrote: "A death presents us with many questions that we may not be able to answer."
"Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) can reduce the likelihood of being infected, but what they cannot protect heroes like Dr Lorna Breen or our first responders against is the emotional and mental devastation caused by this disease," Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney said.
