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The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a great toll on the world, but more so on healthcare workers who are on the frontline.
Dr Lorna Breen, who was a medical director at a Manhattan hospital, took her own life on Sunday in Virginia, where she was staying with family, according to her father Dr Philip Breen.
Her family has been left heartbroken after she died by suicide over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 49-year-old treated patients who had coronavirus and survived the virus herself, her father said.
In an interview with the New York Times, Lorna’s father said, “she tried to do her job, and it killed her.”
The doctor didn’t have a history of mental illness, her father said, but he added that she had seemed detached the last time they spoke and he could tell something was wrong.
Lorna had contracted Covid-19 but had gone back to work after a week and a half of recuperating, according to The New York Times.
The hospital sent her home before her family intervened to take her to Charlottesville.
“Make sure she’s praised as a hero because she was. She’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died,” her father said.
Even while she was out of work and battling the virus, Lorna’s colleagues, including emergency medicine physician, Dr Dara Kass, noted that she remained involved with their lives and safety.
“She was always the physician who was looking out for other people’s health and wellbeing,” Kass told the Times, adding that Lorna would often text them to check-in and make sure they had proper PPE to wear on the job.
Sources: People, The New York Times, Fox News
