Nurse commits suicide at south London hospital

Health care workers are working under extremely stressful conditions due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Along with the stress, they have to deal with the real threat of becoming COVID-19 patients themselves. In King College Hospital, an unnamed nurse committed suicide in the hospital. In Italy, the National Federation of Nurses of Italy announced the second incident where a nurse took her life after testing positive for COVID-19.

King College Hospital is treating COVID-19 patients and eight patients have died at the hospital already. On Monday at around 5:30 pm, a young woman was found unresponsive in the hospital. The woman in her 20s had been working at the hospital as a nurse in the intensive care unit. The medical team failed to save the nurse's life.

Met police spokesperson confirmed that the police were alerted of the incident at 5:36 pm on Monday. Even though the doctors at the hospital tried to revive her, they failed to save her life. The health worker's body has been sent for a post mortem examination. While it is clear that the distressed woman took her own life, the exact cause of death has not been announced.

The Daily Mail reported that the police informed the next of kin about the young woman's death. The death is not being treated as suspicious by the police. It is not known if the nurse had been infected by the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, a nurse in Italy also committed suicide after she tested positive for COVID-19. This incident has been chalked down to the novel coronavirus infection. 34-year-old Daniela Trezzi had been working in the intensive care unit of San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, in the hard-hit Lombardy region of Italy.

After being tested positive on March 10, Tezzi had been in quarantine. National Federation of Nurses of Italy acknowledged that Tezzi had been diagnosed with COVID-19, after which she feared that she had infected other patients. The worried nurse took her life while she was not under surveillance. Her death is being investigated.

The federation also pointed out a similar incident where a nurse took her life in Venice after testing positive with the virus.

A 19-year-old waitress from Kings Lynn, Norfolk also died in hospital after trying to commit suicide. Emily Owen had fallen ill and was worried that she had caught the virus. The teenager was unable to cope with the prospect of self-isolation. The panicked teen chose to commit suicide over having to face isolation.