NYC ER doctor who killed herself amid coronavirus crisis told friends she 'couldn't help anyone' - Daily Mail

A New York City ER doctor who killed herself at the height of the coronavirus crisis told friends she felt she 'couldn't help anyone' and was 'embarrassed' when she suffered a breakdown because of mental health stigma in the medical community.

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

Breen's devastated family, friends and colleagues spoke out about her shock suicide to the New York Times and told how they believe it was triggered by her traumatic work in a Manhattan hospital during the pandemic. .

They say the talented doctor should be included in America's coronavirus death toll because she was indirectly killed by the effects of the outbreak.  .

A staggering 18,667 people have so far been killed by coronavirus in New York City, with daily deaths topping 800 at its peak in April when the city's hospitals were buckling under the weight of the crisis. .

I just wanted to help people, and I couldn't do anything,' Ochoa said Breen told her in their last conversation before she died. .

Several other friends said they noticed a drastic shift in Breen's outlook as the outbreak ramped up in the virus epicenter. .

The New York City ER doctor (center) who killed herself at the height of the coronavirus crisis told friends she felt she 'couldn't help anyone' and was 'embarrassed' when she suffered a breakdown because of mental health stigma in the medical community.

Breen's tragic death came just weeks after she recovered from coronavirus and days after she was discharged from a psychiatric ward following a mental health episode.

Breen's devastated family, friends and colleagues spoke out about her shock suicide to the New York Times and told how they believe it was triggered by her traumatic work on the frontline of the pandemic

EMS workers wheel a patient to a New York hospital in May. A staggering 18,667 people have so far been killed by coronavirus in New York City, with daily deaths topping 800 at its peak in April when the city's hospitals were buckling under the weight of the crisis

Breen checked in to the University of Virginia Medical Center psychiatric ward, by which point Feist said her sister was in a near-catatonic state, unable to answer simple questions. 

Breen's family told the Times she had no history of mental illness prior to the pandemic. 

Breen's family say the talented doctor (pictured) should be included in America's coronavirus death toll because she was indirectly killed by the effects of the outbreak

Former colleagues also said that - pre-COVID times - Breen was always a calming influence among the chaos of working in an emergency department.    

Her sister told the Times Breen, on leaving hospital, became 'embarrassed' for suffering a breakdown during the pandemic. 

She said her sister feared her career was over because of long-running attitudes toward mental health in the medical community

NewYork-Presbyterian said it began offering mental health services to its front-line staff in late March to help them cope with the pandemic.