Dr. Lorna Breen ’s Family: Doctors Shouldn’t Be ‘Punished’ for Seeking Support

When Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency-room physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, died by suicide in April 2020, her family and colleagues were cratered. She had been on the front lines of the huge, early COVID-19 surge before contracting the virus herself, and she confided in family that the anxiety, exhaustion and uncertainty were overwhelming—for her patients, but also for herself. After recovering, she returned to work, facing back-to-back shifts in multiple locations, but within a few days, she was gone. In the midst of their grief, the family set up the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation to provide mental-health support to health care professionals, and began working with legislators on laws and grants that could bolster the effort. Her brother-in-law Corey Feist talks about why help is urgently needed to address mental-health struggles for those working in health care. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] You’ve worked in health care yourself for over 20 years and for the past 15 years as the CEO of a physician group at the University of Virginia. Given your expertise in the industry, what was your awareness level about this issue before April 2020? For the last four years, I’d been hearing an increasing drumbeat from our physicians about burnout. They talked about the changing environment of health care expectations, and they were saying, “Practicing medicine is no longer what we signed up for. It’s moving away from the patient ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news