How absolutely tragic!

[TheOstrich]

I hope the situation is now stopped in its tracks, and before any more lives are ruined

Sorry, going to disagree with the thrust of your post Ooj.

The Australians pushed her over the edge, that much is abundantly clear. She was so ashamed she couldn't even discuss the hoax with her family. The Australians are entirely responsible, and I welcome the decision to look into charging them under the Data Protection Act.

They will just get a fine - by their actions, a person was driven into taking her own life.

[miasmum]

I don't agree, her employers must have known how delicate she was. THEY pushed her over the edge. All she did was put the call through, she gave no information and did not breach data protection. If they still chose to take her to task for that knowing her current mental state, then THEY are to blame.

Was she an agency nurse or a permanent employee? If permanent then I wonder if they weren't looking for a way to get rid of her, as her sickness record must have been pretty bad

[TheOstrich]

Her employers didn't perpetrate the hoax, MM, the Australians did. No hoax telephone call, none of the following specific sequences of events would have happened.

[miasmum]

but if that happened to me at work tomorrow, I know that my managers would defend me and protect me. Because I do a good job, I am totally aware of date protection and patient confidentiality and they would stand by me, knowing my past record.

They would do that regardless but if I had already tried to take my own life twice, then they would have put measures in place to ensure I was not put at risk of any undue stress.

I think they wanted her out and this played into their hands

I suppose another way of looking at it is, if I got in my car, with no seat belt on and got hit by a drunken driver and died of head injuries, then I have to take some blame for that. Life happens, we have to minimise the risks. No one was helping her minimise her risks

[Kaz]

Her employers didn't perpetrate the hoax, MM, the Australians did. No hoax telephone call, none of the following specific sequences of events would have happened.

Absolutely! I agree 100% with you Ossie, but then I have felt the same from the start of all this and haven't changed my mind!

[Workingman]

I said in my fist post on the subject:

I do not understand the statement from the hospital that she had not been suspended or disciplined by the hospital. Why should she be under any investigation or sanction for answering the phone?

And now I am even more concerned.

It is reported that one of her suicide notes contained criticism of the hospital and staff. The hospital cannot possibly have failed to know that during a trip to india Ms Saldanha took an overdose and when that failed jumped off a building - she was in intensive care for nine days for that attempt! It must also have known that she was on strong anti-depressants. What support did it give her, a person with obvious mental problems? The answer from its "back-covering" statement immediately after her death is probably "not a lot".

MP, Keith Vaz, who is representing the Saldanhas, has written to the hospital Chief Exec asking for the family's questions to be answered: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interac ... -lofthouse It would appear that I am not the only one who is suspicious about events after the call was made.

Yes, the call was a prank, a bloody disgrace designed to make fun of the staff, but I am not that sure it was completely the cause of Jacintha Saldanha's death.

[Gal]

Yes, the call was a prank, a bloody disgrace designed to make fun of the staff, but I am not that sure it was completely the cause of Jacintha Saldanha's death.

Completely this WM.

No-one gave her that rope to use, she did that of her own free will, in whatever mental state she was in. I also agree with MM, if her employers were aware of her fragile mental health, they should have been far more supportive. What did she actually do anyway? Put a call through to another member of staff - presumably that member of staff was the one who gave information out re the Duchess....so what exactly has Jacintha done wrong?

[miasmum]

That is what confuses me Gal. If she had tried to commit suicide twice previously, are we actually sure this is anything to do with it?

[TheOstrich]

That is what confuses me Gal. If she had tried to commit suicide twice previously, are we actually sure this is anything to do with it?

I can't see any doubt over that. The hoax was subject of one of her suicide notes.

so what exactly has Jacintha done wrong?

Nothing per se, if all she did was put through the call. But whilst that is how you and I might see it, it was certainly not how she saw it.

You see what I think most people who are now defending the Australians are missing is that these people perpetrated their prank without ANY IDEA as to who they were perpetrating it on and what state of mind she was in.

.... if I got in my car, with no seat belt on and got hit by a drunken driver and died of head injuries, then I have to take some blame for that.

You know, I can't actually agree with you over this example, MM. The person at fault is entirely the drunk driver. I don't really go along with what you might describe as contributory negligence, even though the lawyers might argue it. That driver broke the law and created the accident. That you didn't have your seat-belt on is your own silly fault, but you didn't crash into him, he crashed into you .....

We are too quick sometimes to try to apportion out the blame.

The Australians broke British law. It is an offence under the Data Protection Act to try to solicit protected data. They should face British justice, end of in my book.

I know many won't agree with me, (and I did take note of Ooja's "casting the first stone" comment earlier in this thread, not least because I have to watch the Data Protection Act at work) but whitewashing the Australians because what they did was " justa bit of fun" and they couldn't know what events they would trigger, simply doesn't cut the ice for me.

[miasmum]

but not wearing a seat belt is against the law as well. Ok, so not such a big offence, but an offence just the same.

I am not defending them, but neither do I think they should be entirely held to blame.