Nurse who took Royal prank phonecall found dead.

[Hillary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20645838

A nurse at a London hospital who took a hoax call about the Duchess of Cambridge has been found dead.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement they were "deeply saddened" by the death of the nurse, named as Jacintha Saldanha.

King Edward VII hospital paid tribute to "a first class nurse" who was the "victim of a hoax call."

Details of the pregnant duchess's medical condition were unwittingly revealed to two Australian DJs.

The DJs, from Sydney radio station 2Day FM - which says it is preparing a statement - posed as the Queen and Prince Charles.

The duchess had been admitted on Monday for acute morning sickness, and was discharged on Thursday.

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said he understood Mrs Saldanha was the person who answered the call from the Australian DJs and was not the nurse who discussed the duchess's medical condition.

Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse, answered the telephone because it was 05:30 GMT in the morning and there was no receptionist on duty.

The BBC understands Mrs Saldanha had not been suspended or disciplined by the hospital.

The St James's Palace statement said the duke and duchess "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".

The hospital said in a statement: "We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital.

"The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time."

It added: "Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII's Hospital for more than four years.

"She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues."

Scotland Yard said officers were called at 09:35 GMT on Friday after reports of a woman found unconscious at an address in central London.

They said the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Prank phonecalls are funny I wonder whether the Aussie DJs considered the effect this might have on the person they fooled? I guess not.

[Esquire]

So what happened, exactly? The article doesn't seem to say.

[Hillary]

So what happened, exactly? The article doesn't seem to say.

It appear to be suicide. Obviously this won't be confirmed officially until the inquest.

[Sephirius]

I mentioned this in the Leveson thread a few minutes before this popped up, seeing as the conversation had taken that turn.

I wonder if it will spur even more outcry to get some sort of controls/checks on what people like this can get away with; at the very least I should hope someone brings the DJs up on charges.

[Esquire]

So what happened, exactly? The article doesn't seem to say.

It appear to be suicide. Obviously this won't be confirmed officially until the inquest.

That part I got, but what was the prank call, if we have any information?

[ryacko]

In case you haven't been reading the news....

Two presenters from 2Day FM called the King Edward VII Hospital in London pretending to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and were put straight through to the Duchess's ward in the early hours of Tuesday.
Neither the receptionist who put the call through nor the nurse treating the Duchess suspected anything was amiss, despite the distinctly amateur impersonations of the Queen and Prince's voices. One of the presenters even barked, pretending to be a corgi, while the "Queen" wrongly referred to the Duchess as "my granddaughter".
The nurse looking after the Duchess gave confidential details of her treatment and of her condition, and even talked about what time it would be convenient for the "Queen" to visit.
A spokesman for the hospital said: "This call was transferred through to a ward and a short conversation was held with one of the nursing staff. King Edward VII's Hospital deeply regrets this incident."
The hospital's chief executive, John Lofthouse, said: "This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and we are now reviewing our telephone protocols."
A hospital source described the call as "mean" and "in very bad taste". The radio station has since apologised.
Mel Greig, one of the two presenters of the Summer 30 show, who pretended to be the Queen, spent around two minutes talking to the nurse.
She began by saying: "Kate my darling, are you there?"
The nurse replied: "Good morning ma'am, this is a nurse speaking. How may I help you?"
The "Queen" said: "Hello, I'm just after my granddaughter Kate, I wanted to see how her little tummy bug is going."
After the nurse gave her some details, she said: "OK, I'll just feed my little corgis then," followed by barking from co-presenter Michael Christian.
She asked when a good time would be to visit, and the nurse replied: "I would suggest that any time after nine o'clock would be suitable, because the doctor will be in in the morning, and will just be getting her freshened up in the morning. I would think any time after nine."
Michael Christian, who pretended to be the Prince of Wales, asked the nurse: "Is Wills still there, or has he gone home. I haven't spoken to him yet."
The "Queen" interjected: "When are you going to walk those bloody corgis?" The Charles impersonater replied: "Mumsy, I'll go and take the dogs outside."
Mr Christian said he was "completely shocked" to be put through to the ward, adding: "I thought we'd get hung up on!"
After the pair were put through to the ward by the hospital's reception, he said on air: "If this has worked, it's the easiest prank call we've ever made. Your accent sucked by the way."
He later tweeted: "Not sure how it happened, but called Kate Middleton's hospital pretending to be the Queen and they PUT US THROUGH!!"
The call will re-open the debate on the Leveson Report, which proposes state regulation of the British press but makes no attempt to address the issue of the unregulated internet or media based abroad. Ironically, Lord Justice Leveson is currently in Australia on a speaking tour.
The call appears to have broken Australia's own broadcasting regulations, which stipulate that live programmes must not treat participants in a "highly demeaning or highly exploitative manner". It defines "exploitative" as "clearly appearing to purposefully debase or abuse the participant for the enjoyment of others, and lacking moral, artistic or other values".
The Duke of Cambridge, who arrived at the hospital for his daily visit at 12.20, was told about the hoax by his aides. He spent five hours there, and was joined for two hours by the Duchess's siblings, Pippa and James Middleton. The Duchess's parents visited her on Tuesday night, using a back door to avoid the media.
St James's Palace said it would not be making any comment on the episode, but it is understood that it has not made a formal complaint to the radio station.
A spokesman for 2Day FM said: "2Day FM sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused by the enquiry to Kate’s hospital, the radio segment was done with the best intentions and we wish Kate and her family all the best.”
In a statement, Mr Christiansen 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.”
It is by no means the only time the Royal family has been the subject of a hoax call. In 1995 a Canadian radio presenter pretending to be his country's premier Jean Chretien was put through to the Queen.

I wonder if the nurse died from laughter.

[Spoonist]

I wonder if the nurse died from laughter.

joking about suicide... ban the fuck... he contributes nothing but idiocy so its no loss anyway...

[Ziggy Stardust]

I wonder if it will spur even more outcry to get some sort of controls/checks on what people like this can get away with; at the very least I should hope someone brings the DJs up on charges.

Can we hold off on the witch hunts until there is actually some evidence that the prank phone call is in any way responsible for the series of events that lead to this nurse's unfortunate death?

Because if the death is completely coincidental, who gives a flying fuck about the prank phone call? It was a stupid call, which is exactly why it's not worth getting riled up about. Or do you really think that what they did was inherently criminal?

[Grumman]

Because if the death is completely coincidental, who gives a flying fuck about the prank phone call? It was a stupid call, which is exactly why it's not worth getting riled up about. Or do you really think that what they did was inherently criminal?

I'd be inclined to think that prank calling a hospital makes you a dick, even if you ignore everything else.

[Stark]

H asked if you thought it was inherently criminal. Do you declare 'being a dick' illegal?

[madd0ct0r]

I wonder if the nurse died from laughter.

joking about suicide... ban the fuck... he contributes nothing but idiocy so its no loss anyway...

Overreaction much?

That was a pretty bitter way of describing the shittiness of the outcome. Get off your hair trigger. [/backseatmodding]

[TheHammer]

I think everyone is jumping the gun here making an assumption that the prank phone call would have triggered suicide. It may not have helped the nurse's state of mind, but her reaction is not one that could possibly have been expected by anyone. So either she was mentally unstable to begin with, or there is more to the story.

Most morning radio DJs tend to be dicks because nice people quite frankly aren't that entertaining. But I'm sure they feel terrible about the incident.

[Max]

I can't imagine why someone would commit suicide over a prank call like this, unless that person already had some underlying mental issues. I wish I could hear the content of the call. It could turn out she had been planing this for awhile. I think it's silly to be mad at the DJs over what seems to be a fairly innocuous prank call.

[Darth Wong]

You can't seriously pin responsibility for the nurse's suicide (if it was suicide) on the prank call. No reasonable person, if asked beforehand about the possibility of a prank like this, would think that it might lead to suicide.

[Korgeta]

Ryacko is a sad breed, but is isn't the worst.

About this news, it is a shock I suspect it is connected to the prank, but details could change that. One thing that it is going to change is the career of the two aussie DJ's their tainted with this as well as the radio station, even if it was unconnected I don't think their career would last. Either way it is a PR disaster.

With regards to the hoax itself, personally I would had shrugged off such a thing (partly because i get a lot of lies, cons and grief with my stewarding job) but finding out you been duped by a radio station and has been broadcasted and reported to where its on national papers will hit self esteem quite hard, some take it better then others, some don't. Mental health is a state of mind, some people can be fine but never seem to recover from funerals, point is all the media coverage could have taken a big hit on her confidence and credibility in her own proffession. She might have been a confident mother of two working as a nurse but the prank itself may had started a domino effect into depression as more papers report it, people talk about it etc.

[Jerry the Vampire]

You can't really blame the suicide on the DJ's but what morons approved the call? The nurse could very well have got her fired. Douchebags

[Scrib]

You can't seriously pin responsibility for the nurse's suicide (if it was suicide) on the prank call. No reasonable person, if asked beforehand about the possibility of a prank like this, would think that it might lead to suicide.

This.Unless the hospital or the papers tore her a new one this might just be a her thing. And this is assuming that she killed herself.

[Irbis]

Can we hold off on the witch hunts until there is actually some evidence that the prank phone call is in any way responsible for the series of events that lead to this nurse's unfortunate death?

Because if the death is completely coincidental, who gives a flying fuck about the prank phone call? It was a stupid call, which is exactly why it's not worth getting riled up about. Or do you really think that what they did was inherently criminal?

Sure, though you know, being made a laughingstock before entire UK for eagerly spilling details to impostors doesn't exactly help anyone - the DJs should have thought about possible consequences of their actions as I saw people worrying about the nurse's fate very minute the news hit air (granted, worry was she will lose her job, not suicide, but still).

And to reply second question - what I think they tried to do was to get Duchess on air to not exactly *respect her privacy*. Giving potentially big shock to someone with pregnancy complications, regardless of what they are, is borderline and could have turned ugly/criminal very fast.

[Edi]

You can't really blame the suicide on the DJ's but what morons approved the call? The nurse could very well have got her fired. Douchebags

This. Forwarding any call like that without running some really fucking rigorous checks on the actual identity of the caller in cases where patient details, telecommunications data or similar highly sensitive data is involved would be grounds for immediate firing of the person who actually did put it through.

Even then, giving out any patient information in the manner that apparently happened here is just more incompetence piled up on top of the first idiot's fuckup.

The way you do these things is asking for identity (name, organization), then going "we'll call you back through official channels" and call back through that organization's main phone number and ask to beput through to the alleged person. If no such person exists, it was a prank call, a hoax or something more insidious that you just successfully thwarted.

This is basic fucking data security procedures that anyone and everyone working with such sensitive data should be familiar with as a matter of course. Such knowledge is an elementary part of being able to actually perform your job professionally!

Can't pin the blame for this on the Australian DJs, even if they were assholes. However, if heads do not roll over this with regard to the data security breach, the hospital administration is also incompetent.

[Dominus Atheos]

Uh... Edi you might want to retract that statement, or at least RTFA before posting comments like that.

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said he understood Mrs Saldanha was the person who answered the call from the Australian DJs and was not the nurse who discussed the duchess's medical condition.

Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse, answered the telephone because it was 05:30 GMT in the morning and there was no receptionist on duty.

The dead nurse was the one who first took the call, didn't verify anything, and transferred the call to the nurse who gave out the information.

[Jerry the Vampire]

Considering his point was about the hospital giving out the info it doesn't really make a difference.

[mr friendly guy]

I don't know how UK hospitals work, but generally in Australian hospitals we don't do such identity checking if calls are wrong through. Calls are simply forwarded. But then we don't have Royalty as patients.

[mr friendly guy]

Suicide is whats suspected

Kate Prank Call Nurse 'Commits Suicide'
Sky News – 2 hours 32 minutes ago

A nurse duped by a prank phone call at the hospital treating the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge has died in a suspected suicide.
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who has worked at the hospital for four years, was found dead at an address near King Edward VII's hospital in London on Friday morning.
The hospital confirmed she had been the victim of a hoax call in which two Australian DJs, pretending to be the Queen and Prince of Wales, phoned up about Kate.

Ms Saldanha, a mother of two, received the call and put it through to the ward where another nurse updated the pair on the Duchess, who was being treated for severe morning sickness.

Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt said the nurse was from Bristol and has a son and a daughter. "The hospital had not suspended Ms Saldanha, nor disciplined her," he added.
Her family said in a statement: "We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha."

The owners of the radio station say the two DJs behind the call are "deeply shocked" by the tragedy. They have been dropped from their show until further notice amid a major backlash.
Kate, who is understood to be well under 12 weeks pregnant, was admitted to the hospital on Monday after falling ill over the weekend and released again on Thursday.
The Duchess and her husband, William, the Duke of Cambridge, said in a statement that they were "deeply saddened" by the nurse's death.

"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," they said.

A St James's Palace spokesman added: "At no point did the Palace complain to the hospital about the incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."

The King Edward VII Hospital said: "It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha.

"Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII's Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues.

"We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time."

Hospital chief executive John Lofthouse said: "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies at this time are with her family and friends. Everyone is shocked by the loss of a much-loved and valued colleague."
Lord Glenarthur, the hospital's chairman, said: "This is a tragic event. Jacintha was a first class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients during her time with us. She will be greatly missed."
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, added: "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."

Police were called to the address at 9.35am on Friday after a report about a woman found unconscious. Paramedics rushed to the property but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Inquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances of the incident. The death is not being treated as suspicious at this stage."

Michael Christian and Mel Greig, DJs on the 2DayFM radio station, broadcast their call to the hospital on Wednesday morning.

Greig, impersonating the Queen, asked to speak to her "granddaughter Catherine" and managed to persuade Ms Saldanha to put her through to the ward where Kate was being treated.
The security breach was deeply embarrassing for the hospital, which is the medical institution of choice for the Royal Family.
The DJs apologised for the prank after an initial furore but later took to Twitter to brag of their success - calling it the "easiest prank call ever made".
Following Ms Saldanha's death, the radio station's owners said: "Southern Cross Austereo and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world.
"Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters, they are both deeply shocked and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances.
"SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy."
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 08457 90 90 90 or email jo@samaritans.org

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Yeah, before news of this suicide broke, Prince Charles was joking about the entire thing (yes, Prince Charles, not exactly the world's greatest humourist), observing to an interviewer, "well, how do you know I'm not a radio station?" It's clear the Royal Family had been bemused by it, not upset by it.

[Thanas]

Or that it is their PR strategy right now. Really the only option they have tbh.