A top New York City doctor has taken her own life after battling coronavirus on the frontline, officials have said.
Dr Lorna Breen, medical director of New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital's emergency department, died of self-inflicted injuries on Sunday, police said.
The 49-year-old died in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she had been staying with her family.
In a statement, the Charlottesville Police Department said Dr Breen succumbed to self-inflicted injuries after being rushed to UVA Hospital on Sunday evening.
The 49-year-old's father, Dr Philip Breen, said she had described devastating scenes of the toll the coronavirus took on patients.
New York currently accounts for 17,500 out of America's coronavirus 56,000 deaths.
He told the New York Times: "She tried to do her job and it killed her.
“She was truly in the trenches of the frontline,” he added.
The elder Dr Breen also spoke of how his daughter had contracted Covid-19 but had gone back to work after recuperating.
But the hospital sent her home again, before her family intervened to bring her to Charlottesville, he said.
He added that his daughter had had no history of mental illness although he could tell something was wrong when they last spoke.
In a statement, New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital said: “Dr Breen is a hero who brought the highest ideals of medicine to the challenging front lines of the emergency department.”
Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney said: ”Frontline healthcare professionals and first responders are not immune to the mental or physical effects of the current pandemic."
"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," he added.
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