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Kate Middleton’s Hospital Slams DJ Prank Behind Nurse Jacintha Saldanha’s Death

Truth rating: 10

2:48 pm, December 8th, 2012

(Metro Police)

(GettyImages.com)

The hospital that employed Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse found dead in an apparent suicide just days after she’d been duped by a hoax call concerning Kate Middleton, is expressing outrage over the radio station hosts who perpetrated the prank.

Lord Glenarthur, the chairman of King Edward VII Hospital, penned a letter to the owners of 2Day FM in Sydney, Australia, calling the trick by deejays Mel Greig and Michael Christian “foolish” and “appalling,” with the outcome “tragic beyond words.”

“King Edward VII’s Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of our patients, let alone actually make the call,” wrote Glenarthur.

The letter continued, “Then to discover that, not only had this happened, but that the call had been pre-recorded and the decision to transmit approved by your station’s management, was truly appalling.”

“The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients,” continued the message.

Glenarthur added, “The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words. I appreciate that you cannot undo the damage which has been done but I would urge you to take steps to ensure that such an incident could never be repeated.”

Meanwhile, police have released the first photo of Saldanha (see above), who leaves behind a husband and two teenage children.

In a press conference held by 2Day FM ownership, Greig and Christian were described as “completely shattered” by the week’s events.

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tanker

Greig and Christian were described as “completely shattered” by the week’s events…GOOD! I have no sympathy for them at all. I hope these two arrogant aholes are examples to other so called “shock jocks” who think it’s funny to pull pranks and be cruel to people without giving a second thought to the consequences! Greig and Christian should be fired!!! They can spend the day bragging about that too!
http://twitter.com/IceBreaker888 Ice Breaker

I strongly suspect that all those Hospital officials who now express their “regret” and “sympathies” made life a living hell for the poor woman who got conned by the two Aussies. A nurse would not care about embarrassing the (German by the way) royals. Pretentious Hospital administrators and directors on the other hand…

And for what? Revealing some medical facts about an ex-party-girl who managed to climb up much higher than she ever hoped for?
Cosette

In which twisted reality does making a prank call to a hospital and to a sick and pregnant woman count as a joke?

This poor nurse must have felt keenly responsible for causing her employers deep embarrassment, for jeopardising her employers’ relationship with the royal family, for making a colleague trust her and reveal confidential information, for putting a patient’s health in jeopardy, for risking the wrath of the most powerful family in her host country, for being blamed and for being the butt of jokes world-wide…

All because two idiots and their bosses thought it would be “fun” to call a hospital about a sick woman. Shame on you!
Koollie Cool

Those 2 DJ’s are not to blame for what happened!! The nurse probably had more issues, otherwise she would not commit suicide. Imagine if you were the nurse, would you commit suicide after a prank call? I do not think so. Specially, if you have two children like the nurse had. I can not imagine somebody (who is mentally stable) with two children and a family would commit suicide just because of a prank call.

I truly believe there is a lot more behind her death that we do not know. May she rest in peace….
brenda

Well, whatever the other reasons that may or may not have factored into her decision, this certainly didn’t help her any, did it? And up to now, they didn’t lead to her killing herself. If the nurse had lost her job over this (which had been reported) with two kids and thought about trying to find another one with this issue on her resume added to the fact it involved the royal family she probably just lost all hope.
http://twitter.com/wig4usc Julianne Meisen

I thought the prank was cruel, and when the nurse started to divulge details, why not stop her, you got through, that was the point, wasn’t it? You have to know this will lead to something bad…no way to know this bad. I hate calling pranks, and we wonder why people are cynical? So sorry about the whole thing.
Ty

If she really committed suicide…what led her to do it? A prank call would not cause that…she might have been told off for giving confidential information …threatened with disciplinary action,suspension which could lead to dismissal…NMC policy & regulation etc.
Ty

I agree …that’s absolutely true…The real investigation should be into how sisters on the ward,matron etc. handled the situation
Mikey

nobody ‘jerked’ around with anybody’s emotions… they played a prank, simple. they never said, “i know, lets make this fake phone call and hopefully someone will be so distraught over it they’ll kill themselves”. they are comic radio DJs, it’s what they do and to be fair, if someone is down right stupid enough to hear obvious Australian accents trying to fake ‘top class’ posh English accents and actually believe them, then I’d say people need to start throwing their anger in the opposite direction than the DJs. Of course Lord Glenarthur wants to blame them, it’s not like he’ll admit that it’s the fault of his down right dumb-ass, untrained staff who allowed a fake call from 2 Australians pretending to be British royalty (with 1 of them in the background actually pretending to be 1 of the Queen’s dogs) now is it… Imagine how much money he earns a year from that hospital… a slip up like this could really damage it’s reputation if he admitted fault. It’s the hospital to blame for the prank and god knows who’s to blame for this woman killing herself. She obviously had big issues anyway ‘coz come-on… Who would really kill themselves just over this little prank?? Lord Glenarthur… You yourself should apologise to Kate, nobody else!!
jessica

I have followed this story quite closely and I can only come to one conclusion. a radio station made a prank call to Kate’s hospital. the nature of the call such that it they thought it would be immediately seen as a prank. a nurse gave out information which was in itself, nothing substantial. to commit suicide over such a prank call is an irrational conclusion and suggests that while the nurse may gave been feeling embarrassed, there were other compounding factors that lead to this result. I feel that it was incredibly short sighted if the hospital to release such a statement, directly placing the blame at the presenters feet. no good could come from such an accusation. I wonder if they realise that in such an email, they too are engaging in the very behaviour they accuse the DJs of.
jackalexandria

she didn’t lose her job, she was getting support form the hospital in which she worked, and If this hadn’t of involved the royal family, I suspect would not have effected her so seriously. In my opinion far too much importance is given to the royals, they’re just people too.
tanker

They’re not responsible?! Are you kidding me?! Who made the call to the hospital and then bragged about it all day?! It sure wasn’t the nurse! Also, you need to know there are cultures in this world that do not handle shame very well and it has nothing to do with “mental issues”. Im sad you’re so willing to support the DJs and brand the victim as a mental case…you must be related to them or the station owner…shame on you!!
Guest

You must be one of the dj s trying to defend her actions by trying to place the blame on the victim and the hospital instead of the people responsible for the prank which resulted in the suicide of the nurse. She may have been on the edge of a cliff mentally, but it was the irresponsible dj s who pushed her over the cliff with their foolish, stupid prank. There are no excuses for the dj s who really are the “short sighted” ones.
Kitty Kat

Exactly. A telephone prank may annoy, embarrass, be in poor taste, etc. However, it is certainly no recognized cause of death. Medical people are well trained in patient privacy laws anyway. If they were in trouble, it was because they did make a mistake and should have known better. They could easily have unlawfully given out patient information that led to something serious themselves. It is a regrettable incident, but no, the DJ and radio are in no way responsible for a death. NOBODY would have foreseen that. A person who is even marginally mentally stable in the first place would not commit suicide over that.
Kitty Kat

Where did Jessica place blame on the victim and the hospital?
Kitty Kat

From what I heard, there wasn’t much of importance said anyway but I agree that they went too far.
Kel

Totally agree! A person dosen’t just all of a sudden decide to kill themselves. The nurse more then likely already had depression of some sort. While the prank was a stupid thing to do, the two DJ’s did not force this women to kill herself. She took it upon herself to do that. She decided that she would rather be dead then be with her children and husband. I’m sorry but I really don’t really feel alot of sympathy for people who kill themselves. It is such a selfish act. She has two kids who must now feel, that they were not all that important to her, not enough to live for. As a parent I can not fathom putting children through something like this. I’m sure the Prince and Princess feel horrible about this aswell. They would never have wanted this lady to kill herself.
Kel

There was nothing of importance givien out at all. Nothing top secret was reveled, not need for suicide. Never is there a reason for suicide. Such a waste.
Michael

It could be she has seen some happenings or incidents in the work place of the Royal family, it could be there are high level punishments or no future, if any one working in the royal family committed mistakes. There is a lot of Recorded past in her mind, about working in the Royal Family. Now she is trapped in this Prank call broadcasted publicly, could be she has felt more dangerous about the next consequences that are going to happen from the Royal family. During the Prank call – she could be just relaxed – giving some minor private answers, feeling to make some relief through jokes (its normal for every employee in this world to crack jokes about their owner in privacy), not realizing that it will be broadcasted to the world. Its the Radio’s mistake to broadcast it to the World – it should take permission from the participant. Its illegal as per Human laws – if not National law. No ahole could releave ones secret with out his permission to the World.
http://fenyolife.blogspot.cz/ Austea

blaming other people for one’s decisions is very childish. i believe that nurse probably had more issues, otherwise she would not commit suicide
FairerThanU

Payback’s a b***h.
They (the radio station) humiliated the nurse in the course of her work and now it’s their turn. The only difference is that she won’t ever get over it…
Linda

Nurses are highly qualified professionals who take their multiple responsibilities seriously and are subject to extensive scrutiny from multiple forums. In addition, night duty is a high burden shift with even lower staff patient ratios than during the day. It is simply ludicrous to defend the actions of these DJ’s by stating the nurse probably had ‘other issues’ – even if she did, that is irrelevant. The DJ’s actions reflect an industry that respects no body or anything, except their ‘ratings and rewards.’ Good thing nurses take their responsibilities more seriously.
Becky

I think people are completely overreacting about this. Would the nurse have committed suicide if this hadn’t of happened? Likely not and we will never know. BUT, they didn’t force her to do it. I do feel bad for the DJS but i feel worse for the nurse her friends and family but you can’t BLAME them they didn’t do it. It was her decision. She obviously had some serious underlying issues. Pranks happen all the time every day, its a comedic thing! It’s not like they sat there and said lets play this joke in hopes of someone killing themselves….. How unreasonable you all are. If it had of been something funny and ended on a light fun note, yall would be laughing over it.
sunflower5

The family of this nurse needs to sue the radio station and the DJ’s.. also they should be fired..
Schmancy

I think even though it was foolish of the DJ’s and radio station to air this, it did not cause her death. We should focus more on the hospital, the other staff and the nurses home life. The truth will come out as to how the hospital heads dealt with the nurse and there will also be pre-existing psychiatric issues the nurse had. Only time will tell……
MissM

I think it’s absolute BS that the DJ’s are being blamed. The hospital staff should never have given out confidential patient information OVER THE PHONE under ANY circumstances, especially about such a high profile patient!!! Yes, the prank call was silly, but the real blame DOES lie with the nurses who felt it was appropriate to be chatty on the phone about confidential patient information, period. It’s very sad that the one nurse took her own life, but there had to have been other issues in her life to end it like that.
American

You know damn well the hospital came down on that poor nurse. I’d look to the hospital to place blame. It was a simple prank before the hospital took hold of it. Bastards who put monarchy over the life of a hard working human being.
Tom Heap

Where did you find anything to say the hospital came down on her?

There has been nothing, absolutely nothing to support tha t.
You just assuming and inventing reasons to shift responsibility away from the idiots who thought making a prank call to a sick person in a hospital would be “entertainment” for the masses.
What about the radio station who put ratings “over the life of a hard working human being” without a thought for the the livelihood of the person at the end of the phone? She could have lost her job, but she lost her life instead possibly because she couldn’t live with the shame and embarrassment at being tricked by a pair of juvenile pranksters out for a laugh.

They wanted fame? They’ve got it. In spades. With everything.

Doesn’t it taste sweet?
Iansmith

Fuck the Royals
Alex

If any of you are old enough to remember…back in the 80s, Atlanta, GA had a string of child murders and for a while no one thought there would be an arrest. One Monday morning the news reported another child found dead in a nearby river and the radio dj’s proceeded to play Another One Bites The Dust by Queen in relation to the childs death. Thankfully, the two dj’s were promptly fired but it was never forgotten and it showed how much power these people have and how lives can be left in ruins. This latest story reminds me of that and it’s just as sickening and heartbreaking as it was over 20 years ago.
jackalexandria

joking about a murder victim is hardly comparable to a prank telephone call, do you honestly believe they thought their actions would lead to a death? Were they making fun of someone who was deceased? Your DJ’s from Atlanta were taunting the family of a murder victim, these two situations are nothing like each other.
Emma1986

do the DJs have to commit suicide now too as some people are being so harsh on them that would be the only solution that would that satisfy the blood lust of the world right now? my goodness all of these people are victims of a sick cosmic joke the djs weren’t being malicious and certainly didn’t want things to turn out like they did, this woman didn’t ask to be pranked and kate didn’t ask for people to intrude on her life during this difficult time we can all point fingers but sometimes shit happens and it sucks, she took her own life in a selfish choice leaving behind two children instead of asking for help or talking about things, what’s done is done and hopefully a lesson can be learned from all and send a message to those djs and paps out there to back off…i pray for the family of all those involved including the DJs who made a mistake in judgment…
yvr

A normal person wouldn’t just kill herself because a prank call. Did she think of her children before she took her life. It has to be more. She definitely has a problem that we don’t know of and we also don’t know what the management said to her. If a person can’t take a setback like this in life, it’s only a matter of time something will trigger it in the future.
H. A. J.

Hold on…
I understand the prank phone call was silly and childish, but why in the WORLD would a nurse or anyone kill themselves just because of a phone call? Something much much deeper was going on with this lady.
Holland

I agree with you 100% The DJ’s can’t be blamed for that death. Please…Do you know how many times hospitals get phone calls like that every single time word gets out a celebrity is there? It happens all the time. there was a lot more going on with this nurse then we know about.
fritofly

I’m not sure Kel is supporting the DJ’s but is stating a fact. Radio stations do prank calls every day and all over the world. This is nothing new and generally most everyone gets a giggle out of it. No one would ever consider the idea that the recipient of a prank call would see it as a reason to commit suicide. If you happened to work for this or some other radio station and were told you could make a prank call, would you ever dream it would be the cause of some mixed up person to commit suicide and refuse to do so or would you go along with the joke? Answer before this happened. Don’t answer based on your horror at what happened now. this woman chose to leave her husband and 2 kids rather than deal with what we assume is one incident. I would suggest she had more issues than this and maybe wasn’t doing her job well in other areas and decided to opt out. She may have wanted to attempt suicide hoping for sympathy and then succeeded instead of getting the desired outcome. She deserves sympathy possibly but so do these dj’s. Had they had any idea this would happen, I have no doubt they would never have done the prank on this particular person. Anyone else would probably have handled it as nothing more than what it was. They have to live with this now and they will suffer for her actions. She got even with them.
c.n.l.

By all accounts, she was a caring nurse, proud of working in an exclusive hospital and suddenly found she had caused great embarrassment to her employers. She had also indirectly breached a patient’s confidentiality. Plus she was ridiculed, shamed and laughed at.

Maybe she thought she couldn’t live with everyone around her, at work and at home, knowing what had happened.

The thing is we don’t know, and anyone saying “a normal person wouldn’t…” is simply judging from the comfort of their armchair.
ThePhdScientist

EXACTLY! Let’s stop being ridiculous here. Clearly this was a childish, immature prank as happens weekly on radio stations around the world, but people don’t go off and kill themselves because of it. Clearly this nurse had other, far bigger mental issues than this prank.
ThePhdScientist

Thank you for being a voice of reason amongst this sea of foolishness…
http://www.facebook.com/alexis.boygenius Payne Reliever

i am a nurse and im really sad about this news :(

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Kate Middleton’s Hospital Slams DJ Prank Behind Nurse Jacintha Saldanha’s Death

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