Matters Arising from the New York hospital murder-suicide

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…. CS Lewis

Four days ago, the news was awash with the story of a homicide-suicide which happened at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in New York. What made it even more shocking was that the attack at that hospital had been carried out by a former employee who was a physician. He reportedly wanted to take revenge on those whom he thought were responsible for the loss of his position as a physician at the hospital. A staff of the hospital said Dr. Bello threatened to come back to kill those he held responsible for the loss of his license to practice medicine. Two years after, he made good his threat.

My initial reaction was of shock, disbelief and then anger.  Dr. Henry Bello, a family physician, had shot and killed one person and injured several others before taking his own life with a gunshot to his chest. This happened within hours of another attack in the Las Vegas area where a pain clinic was attacked by a gunman. Why would anyone do something so horrible? Hospitals are supposed to be places where people come to find help, not a place where their fears and anxieties are amplified. Reports from the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital said Bello was a troubled man.  He had also been accused of sexual assault. Methinks mental health issues were also at play here and he should have been encouraged to get help. Does that justify his actions? No! There’s nothing right about what happened to all those people and it could easily have been anyone of us.

Mental health issues among health professionals are often never discussed. In fact, it is mostly a taboo and in some countries, licensure would be difficult if not impossible if it was known that a health professional had ever had a mental illness. As a result, many professionals don’t seek the help they need to live a healthful life. No wonder then that suicide rates among physicians are high. It trickles down to medical students as well.

Issues regarding mental health should be in the open. It is wrong to stigmatize anyone because they are dealing with mental health challenges. Wrong! We need to address the elephant in the room. Not talking about it doesn’t make it go away. Stigma is wrong on all counts.

My thoughts go out to those who are in so such pain because of this senseless act of violence especially to the grieving family of the physician who died in this tragedy. The staff and patient of the hospital are hopefully getting the help they need to help them overcome the trauma they experienced. Hopefully, this incident and the trauma it has caused will compel hospitals to begin to take the security of their staff more seriously.