A nurse working in Italy to treat coronavirus patients committed suicide after she tested positive for the virus and feared she had spread it to others.
Daniela Trezzi, 34, worked in the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, which is located in the hard-hit region of Lombardy, according to a Tuesday statement from the National Federation of Nursing Professions Order.
The nurse was working in the intensive care unit until she started showing symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive for the virus, which then forced her to quarantine. Trezzi had been suffering “heavy stress” amid fears she spread the virus while trying to treat it once she was isolated, the federation acknowledged.
“Each of us has chosen this profession for good and, unfortunately, also for bad: we are nurses,” the federation said.
The group also noted that Trezzi’s death was not the first time a nurse treating coronavirus patients in Italy committed suicide.
“The condition and stress to which our professionals are subjected is under the eyes of all,” the statement explained, adding that “a similar episode had happened a week ago in Venice, with the same underlying reasons.”
There have been nearly 70,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy, the second-most only behind China, where the virus originated, according to Johns Hopkins University. Italy has seen more fatalities from the virus, 6,820, than any other country in the world.
