Kate hoax call nurse found dead (From Daily Echo)
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Duchess of Cambridge hoax call nurse found dead in suspected suicide
3:20pm Friday 7th December 2012 in News By Echo Reporter
The Duchess of Cambridge
A NURSE at the private hospital which treated the Duchess of Cambridge has died in a suspected suicide – two days after being duped by a hoax call from an Australian radio station.
Jacintha Saldanha was found an address near the King Edward VII Hospital in London this morning.
The hospital said in a statement: ''We can confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha.
''Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and a well-respected and popular member of staff with all her colleagues.
''We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital has been supporting her at this difficult time.''
The nurse’s body was found just before 9.30am today.
Paramedics were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are treating the death as “unexplained”. The exact cause of death remained unclear.
Two days earlier the nurse took a phone call from DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, in which she gave personal medical details about the Duchess’ condition.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are ''deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha'', St James's Palace said today.
The palace added in a statement: ''Their Royal Highnesses were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.''
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ''This is tragic news, and the thoughts of all at the Royal College of Nursing go to the family of Jacintha Saldanha.
''It is deeply saddening that a simple human error due to a cruel hoax could lead to the death of a dedicated and caring member of the nursing profession.''
The DJs made their call at around 5.30am on Tuesday and are thought to have been put through to Ms Saldanha, 46.
The nurse told them: ''She's sleeping at the moment and she has had an uneventful night and sleep is good for her.
''She's been given some fluids to rehydrate her because she was quite dehydrated when she came in but she's stable at the moment.''
The nurse added: ''She hasn't had any retching with me since I've been on duty and she has been sleeping on and off. I think it's difficult sleeping in a strange bed as well.''
The prank call was deeply embarrassing for the hospital, which is the medical institution of choice for the Royal Family.
Mr Lofthouse said on Tuesday: ''I've received advice that what the Australian broadcasters did may well have broken the law. On the other hand they've apologised for it so we're going to have a long and careful think about what, if anything, we do.''
The prank call was pre-recorded and vetted by lawyers before being broadcast to listeners in Sydney.
In their initial apology the two presenters said: ''We were very surprised that our call was put through. We thought we'd be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents.
''We're very sorry if we've caused any issues and we're glad to hear that Kate is doing well.''
The royals have been the target of hoax callers before.
In 1995 Canadian DJ Pierre Brassard, pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, was put through to the Queen.
The pair spoke for around 15 minutes and he even managed to elicit a promise that she would try to influence Quebec's referendum on proposals to break away from Canada.
Comments(27)
Ozmosis
says...
3:40pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Lockssmart
says...
3:41pm Fri 7 Dec 12
originalsfc
says...
4:02pm Fri 7 Dec 12
No different to candid camera or Noels funny phone calls etc.
Very sad though as she obviously had other issues going on and this was just the straw that broke the camels back.
Taskforce 141
says...
4:04pm Fri 7 Dec 12
I personally would be looking at how the "disciplinary action" was handled in relation to the hoax call rather than the hoax call itself.
redsnapper
says...
4:07pm Fri 7 Dec 12
I question the hospital procedures?
A junior member of staff not properly briefed could be an explanation and did the hospital support or criticise her after the event.
A private high profile hospital shouldn#t have got into this mess. The man at the top needs to consider his position.
Very very sad waste of a valuable human life.
The Wickham Man
says...
4:27pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Ian Dowland
says...
4:57pm Fri 7 Dec 12
sotonboy84
says...
5:01pm Fri 7 Dec 12
originalsfc wrote:Impersonating the most famous woman in the world to obtain personal medical details about another member of the most famous family in the world is a little more serious than "good old fashioned clean fun", don't you think?
Bit OTT to top yourself over "just" that..........the hoax wasnt mallicious nor cruel at all - just good old fashioned clean fun. No different to candid camera or Noels funny phone calls etc. Very sad though as she obviously had other issues going on and this was just the straw that broke the camels back.
And by stating that the nurse had other issues going on in her life, you knew her personally? I think not. So best let her rest in peace rather than jumping to your own conclusions.
Scott1066
says...
5:03pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Of the Ilk
says...
5:03pm Fri 7 Dec 12
100%HANTSBOY
says...
5:35pm Fri 7 Dec 12
sotonboy84 wrote:I thought they were pretending to be Kates Mum,not the Queen...I may be wrong!
originalsfc wrote:Impersonating the most famous woman in the world to obtain personal medical details about another member of the most famous family in the world is a little more serious than "good old fashioned clean fun", don't you think?
Bit OTT to top yourself over "just" that..........the hoax wasnt mallicious nor cruel at all - just good old fashioned clean fun. No different to candid camera or Noels funny phone calls etc. Very sad though as she obviously had other issues going on and this was just the straw that broke the camels back.
And by stating that the nurse had other issues going on in her life, you knew her personally? I think not. So best let her rest in peace rather than jumping to your own conclusions.
100%HANTSBOY
says...
5:41pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Paramjit Bahia
says...
5:51pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Every decent person will very rightly feel for departed soul and have full sympathy with her family and friends.
Although details of this tragedy may only become clear after proper investigations, how could anybody justify or start making excuses for Australian DJ's making hoax calls, as some on this site have done?
The scum bags trying to violate a patient's medical confidentiality would have been bad enough (whoever the patient may be) but they not only succeeded but then went on to broadcast their criminality and height of immorality. How could they be any better than lowest of low News of the World journos who hacked murdered Milly's voice mail?
Hospital accepting simple apology from evil hoaxers was not good enough, why criminal charges were not called for? Hardly surprising government of nation of Rupert Murdoch's birth, Australia did not step in to take action against the broadcaster. Nor ours called for action.
Investigation into this tragedy should also look into how the late nurse was treated by the hospital management following the success of so called hoax call. Did they really provide her, when under pressure, full moral support or in private dealt too harshly?
sparkster
says...
6:48pm Fri 7 Dec 12
elvisimo
says...
7:06pm Fri 7 Dec 12
originalsfc wrote:Agreed not malicious but tragic non the less.
Bit OTT to top yourself over "just" that..........the hoax wasnt mallicious nor cruel at all - just good old fashioned clean fun.
No different to candid camera or Noels funny phone calls etc.
Very sad though as she obviously had other issues going on and this was just the straw that broke the camels back.
sparkster
says...
8:00pm Fri 7 Dec 12
SOULJACKER
says...
8:45pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Of the Ilk wrote:They probably meant no harm but........as is always the case with the media worldwide they think of ratings & getting a laugh.....they DON'T think of the repercussions until something like this happens & it is too late.
It would be a good idea if some of you commenting on here read some other news sites as the Echo story has left out many important details.
Sad news indeed & all the media/celebrities (especially from the 70's Mr Clifford, Saville etc....) need a darn good shake up & reality check...period!
When you start affecting peoples lives it is time to think about what you are doing & the moral good of it all!
good-gosh
says...
8:46pm Fri 7 Dec 12
IronLady2010
says...
9:48pm Fri 7 Dec 12
What started off to be a funny prank call, has had some nasty ending.
My best wishes to all involved as I don't feel anything like this was meant to happen.
derek james
says...
9:48pm Fri 7 Dec 12
joenice1
says...
10:27pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Paramjit Bahia wrote:Agree, the prank was sick, and totally wrong - how is a hoax call to a hospital funny, complete scum.
Loss of human life is very sad, and when somebody committed to help people with health problems dies it is even more so.
Every decent person will very rightly feel for departed soul and have full sympathy with her family and friends.
Although details of this tragedy may only become clear after proper investigations, how could anybody justify or start making excuses for Australian DJ's making hoax calls, as some on this site have done?
The scum bags trying to violate a patient's medical confidentiality would have been bad enough (whoever the patient may be) but they not only succeeded but then went on to broadcast their criminality and height of immorality. How could they be any better than lowest of low News of the World journos who hacked murdered Milly's voice mail?
Hospital accepting simple apology from evil hoaxers was not good enough, why criminal charges were not called for? Hardly surprising government of nation of Rupert Murdoch's birth, Australia did not step in to take action against the broadcaster. Nor ours called for action.
Investigation into this tragedy should also look into how the late nurse was treated by the hospital management following the success of so called hoax call. Did they really provide her, when under pressure, full moral support or in private dealt too harshly?
MGRA
says...
11:14pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Shoong
says...
11:17pm Fri 7 Dec 12
Paramjit Bahia wrote:Oh dear, had to get the tenuous Rupert Murdoch link in, pretty sad by adult standards.
Loss of human life is very sad, and when somebody committed to help people with health problems dies it is even more so.
Every decent person will very rightly feel for departed soul and have full sympathy with her family and friends.
Although details of this tragedy may only become clear after proper investigations, how could anybody justify or start making excuses for Australian DJ's making hoax calls, as some on this site have done?
The scum bags trying to violate a patient's medical confidentiality would have been bad enough (whoever the patient may be) but they not only succeeded but then went on to broadcast their criminality and height of immorality. How could they be any better than lowest of low News of the World journos who hacked murdered Milly's voice mail?
Hospital accepting simple apology from evil hoaxers was not good enough, why criminal charges were not called for? Hardly surprising government of nation of Rupert Murdoch's birth, Australia did not step in to take action against the broadcaster. Nor ours called for action.
Investigation into this tragedy should also look into how the late nurse was treated by the hospital management following the success of so called hoax call. Did they really provide her, when under pressure, full moral support or in private dealt too harshly?
gazdance
says...
12:05am Sat 8 Dec 12
The golden rule of pranks: know all of your victims. Always debrief and provide a safety net for everyone involved.
C'mon, are we really all saying that we believe the reason this poor woman apparently killed herself was because of a prank!? Get real. We know nothing about this woman or her personal circumstances. She could have suffered from a variety of personal traumas. Two incidents involving the same person aren't necessarily the result of one or the other.
Or believe what you're spoon fed. It does make a good headline after all. And it's great to indignantly condemn a couple of radio presenters.
cliffwalker
says...
3:36am Sat 8 Dec 12
My comment on Lockssmart's contribution (3:41pm Fri 7 Dec 12) is that it would be better if he kept his bigotry to himself.
jazzi
says...
1:27pm Sat 8 Dec 12
gazdance wrote:I agree.You can bet they made threats of nmc reporting, losing her registration. Awful.
As someone says:
The golden rule of pranks: know all of your victims. Always debrief and provide a safety net for everyone involved.
C'mon, are we really all saying that we believe the reason this poor woman apparently killed herself was because of a prank!? Get real. We know nothing about this woman or her personal circumstances. She could have suffered from a variety of personal traumas. Two incidents involving the same person aren't necessarily the result of one or the other.
Or believe what you're spoon fed. It does make a good headline after all. And it's great to indignantly condemn a couple of radio presenters.
I still dont believe suicide, she had kids. Was of sound mind etc etc The prank callers are really not to blame, even the royals laughed it off. The press hounding her no doubt, vile vermin.
chapellady says...
3:31pm Fri 7 Dec 12