A top doctor on the front line of the battle against New York City's rampant COVID-19 outbreak has taken her own life.
Dr Lorna Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan, died from self-inflicted injuries on Sunday, April 26 (local time).
In a candid interview with the New York Times, the 49-year-old's father, Dr Philip Breen, said his daughter "tried to do her job and it killed her".
Dr Lorna Breen succumbed to her injuries after being hospitalised in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she had been staying with relatives at her family's insistence.
She had contracted the virus through her role as a frontline health worker but returned to her job after just a week-and-a-half of recuperating. The hospital sent her home again and after a family "intervention", her father said, she went to Charlottesville - roughly a six-hour drive from Manhattan.
Dr Philip Breen said his daughter seemed "detached" when they last spoke and talked of COVID-19 patients dying before they could be removed from ambulances. Multiple people have died from the virus at the Manhattan hospital where Dr Lorna Breen was employed.
"She was truly in the trenches on the front line... she's a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died," he told the New York Times.
"Make sure she's praised as a hero."
In a statement, New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital paid tribute to Dr Breen as a "hero who brought the highest ideals of medicine to the challenging front lines of the emergency department".
In a press release confirming her death, the Charlottesville Police Department also hailed Dr Breen as a hero, the department's chief acknowledging the extreme toll the crisis is exerting on healthcare staff.
"Front line healthcare professionals and first responders are not immune to the mental or physical effects of the current pandemic," Chief RaShall Brackney said. "On a daily basis, these professionals operate under the most stressful of circumstances, and the coronavirus has introduced additional stressors.
"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."
According to the Times, Dr Breen was a devout Christian and an avid skier who enjoyed salsa dancing. She was very close to her family and volunteered once a week at a rest home.
Her father said Dr Breen had no history of mental illness.
New York is continuing to grapple with its unprecedented outbreak of the virus, the city accounting for 17,682 of America's 57,812 virus-related deaths. New York state has seen almost a third of the country's more than one-million confirmed cases, the city alone recording more than 162,330 cases. According to the latest figures by the Johns Hopkins University live tracker, 57,103 of the United States' 98,312 virus-related hospitalisations are in New York.
On Monday (local time), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said random antibody tests indicate that a quarter (24.7 percent) of people in New York, America's most populous city with a population of 8.3 million, had been infected with the virus.
Where to find help and support:
- Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
- Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
- Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
- What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
- Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
- Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
- Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
- Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584
