Dr. Philip Breen Bio

Dr. Philip Breen is a family medicine specialist in Hancock who specializes in family medicine and general surgery.  He is the father of Dr. Lorna Breen, a former medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan who committed suicide on April 26, 2019.

Dr. Philip Breen Age

Dr. Philip is 81 years old.

Philip Breen Education

Dr. Philip graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1970. He later joined the University of Virginia Hospital.

Dr. Philip Breen Daughter

Dr. Philip was the father of Dr. Lorna Breen, a medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan who committed suicide on April 26, 2020.

Dr. Philip revealed that his daughter had contacted coronavirus on her line of duty but she returned to her work after about a week and a half of recuperating. The hospital sent her home again, before her family intervened to bring her to Charlottesville. He also added that she had described devastating scenes of the toll the coronavirus took on patients.

He added that Lorna had no history of mental illness. But he said that the last time they talked she seemed detached and he could tell something was wrong. According to the New York Times, she had described to him an onslaught of patients who were dying before they could even be taken out of ambulances.

“She was truly in the trenches of the front line. Make sure she’s praised as a hero, because she was. She’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died.”

Who is Dr. Lorna Breen

Dr. Lorna M. Breen was an emergency medicine physician in New York, she served as e medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital. According to the NY Times Dr. Breen was a member of a New York ski club and traveled regularly out west to ski and snowboard. She was also a devoted Christian who volunteered at a home for older people once a week.

Dr. Lorna Breen Suicide

Dr. Lorna died on April 26 of self-inflicted injuries. The police department said that they got a call of help on April 26 and Dr. Breen was taken to a local hospital for treatment “where she later succumbed to self-inflicted injuries”.

In a statement 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.”

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia released a statement describing her as a hero; “Dr. Breen is a hero who brought the highest ideals of medicine to the challenging front lines of the emergency department. Our focus today is to provide support to her family, friends and colleagues as they cope with this news during what is already an extraordinarily difficult time.”