An ER doctor in New York City who committed suicide in the crisis of a coronavirus told a friend, “No one can help”

An ER doctor in New York City, who committed suicide during the coronavirus crisis, told her friend that she was “embarrassed” when she felt “no one could help” and suffered from a mental health stigma breakdown in the medical community. Did.

On April 26, Dr. Lorna M. Breen (49), director of the emergency department of New York Presbyterian Allen Hospital, committed suicide in Charlottesville, Virginia on April 26.

Her tragic death came weeks after she recovered from the coronavirus and days after she was discharged from the psychiatric ward after a mental health episode.

Breen’s devastated family, friends and colleagues talked about her shocked suicide New York Times And they talked about how they believe it was brought about by the traumatic work of a pandemic at Manhattan Hospital.

They say a competent doctor should be included in the American coronavirus death toll and she was indirectly killed by the indirect effects of the outbreak.

Anna Ochoa, 45, felt her friend helpless because of the number of lives she could not save from the virus.

In New York City, a staggering 18,667 people have been killed by the coronavirus, with more than 800 daily deaths at the peak of April, and city hospitals at stake. ..

“I couldn’t help anyone. I couldn’t do anything. I just wanted to help people, I couldn’t do anything like that,” Ochoa said before Breen’s death. I talked to her in the last conversation.

Ochoa told The Times that he couldn’t stop thinking about his last word to his friend, who repeatedly called him a few days before he died.

Some other friends said they had noticed a dramatic change in Breen’s outlook since the epidemic of the virus surged.

“The person I work with is very confused about all the mixed messages and the ever-changing direction,” she wrote to the Bible Study Group on March 14.

“Thank you for your prayers for safety, wisdom and trust.”

On March 18, Breen began to show symptoms of coronavirus and needed to be quarantined at home.

She came back on April 1st, as the outbreak was a breakpoint in the city.

“I’m completely lost,” Breen wrote to a colleague in the meantime.

“I was just confused and overwhelmed,” she told another person.

In “Allen”, the hospital ran out of space, so the bodies of the victims of COVID-19 were piled up in an X-ray room, and in a special shocking incident, a man was found dead and I am waiting for the move to the hospital ward.

Breen’s colleagues say she has 15 hours of hard shift work overseeing the dying emergency department around.

Frequently cheerful doctors told one friend absolutely “the hardest time of my life”, but she told others “I’m drowning now.”

Breen’s sister Jennifer Fist, who she spoke to virtually every day, recalled how her sister called her on April 9th, heard far away, and said she couldn’t get up.

“I don’t know in which direction I’m going. I can’t escape from the chair,” Breen told her.

Her boss, Dr. Angela M. Mills, visited her and Breen told her that she wanted to hurt her.

Breen checked in to the Psychiatric Unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center, at which point Faith said his sister was almost nervous and could not answer simple questions.

Breen’s family told the Times that he had no history of mental illness before the pandemic.

A former colleague also said – in the pre-COVID era – Breen had always had a calming influence in the chaos employed in the emergency department.

“Every morning shift can cause ER confusion,” said Dr. Gino A. Farina, who was responsible for the Emergency Medical Residency Program at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center when Breen was resident there. Said.

“Everyone looked exhausted, their hair was messed up, and they certainly did seem they were destroyed. And as if she was ready to start the shift I saw.

Breen’s “Allen” doctors, who joined in 2004, gave a similar explanation that she encouraged the population to consider all possible diagnoses and different methods.

“There was something a bit strange about her, it was an optimism that her tenacious efforts saved her life,” her colleague and friend Dr. Barbara Rock told The Times.

Her sister said she was “confused” that Times Breen was suffering from a dysfunction during a pandemic when she was discharged.

Her older sister said she was afraid of her career ending because of the long-term attitude of the medical community to mental health.

“Lorna continued to say, “I think everyone knows what I’m suffering from,” Feisto said.

“She was very embarrassed.”

Fist blamed the medical “culture” and called for change.

“If the cultures were different, that idea wouldn’t even have happened to her, so that’s why I have to change cultures,” Feist said.

“We need to change that. Similarly, now.”

Breen’s premature death raises concerns about the damage that the pandemic has brought to the medical profession to fight herpes virus at the forefront.

Several studies found that health care workers had a higher incidence of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress after treatment of COVID-19 patients.

NewYork-Presbyterian said it began offering mental health services to its frontline staff in late March to help respond to the pandemic.

• For confidential support, call National Suicide Prevention Line, 1-800-273-8255
• For confidential support, call the Samaritan at 116123 or visit a local Samaritan branch. For more information, please visit www.samaritans.org.
• In Australia, call Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support: 13 11 14