She was a nurse who had worked for this hospital for four years. Jacintha committed suicide over humiliation.
Earlier in the week, two Austalian disc jockeys, a man, Michael Christian, and a woman, Mel Greig, as part of their radio show, phoned the hospital in London to find out the condition of Kate Middleton, Prince William's pregnant wife. These Australian radio hosts pretended on-air to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles and they received some answers from Nurse Jacintha Saldanha. This audio clip was broadcast all over the world.
When it turned out that this was all a big laugh and a hoax, Jacintha was humiliated beyond her capacity to cope with it. She was from the south of India. She was not from a culture that laughs off jokes of this nature.
Buckingham Palace released a statement in which Prince William and his wife expressed their deep sadness at the death of Saldanha and that their thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.
When it turned out that this was all a big laugh and a hoax, Jacintha was humiliated beyond her capacity to cope with it. She was from the south of India. She was not from a culture that laughs off jokes of this nature.
Hospital officials describe Jacintha as a competent and caring nurse who helped many patients. They stated that she was an excellent nurse and was well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues.
She had worked hard to earn an honest living, moving to Britain with her husband and children nine years ago after working in the Middle East.
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| Saint Therese of Lisieux, pray for Jacintha |
Family members stated that they are devastated by her loss and that they will miss her forever.
Catholic officials describe her as a loving and caring wife and mother.
Australian radio company owners said that there was no way that the radio hosts could have predicted the fallout from their prank call to Jacintha. But many Austalians are angry at this radio station and so are a number of their advertisers who have withdrawn their advertisements from this station.
Buckingham Palace released a statement in which Prince William and his wife expressed their deep sadness at the death of Saldanha and that their thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.
Jokes and pranks and other nonsense can be funny and a laugh until it kills someone. But this is all hindsight. When it is being done, it may seem like the fun and entertaining thing to do. God help us to know how to separate jokes from tragedy.
Jacintha is survived by many loving friends and relatives including her husband, Benedict Barboza and her 2 children.
Let us pray that Jacintha Saldanha is in heaven. Let us pray that she is at peace and is with God. Amen.
1 comment:
It is so common today that people feel no shame or embarrassment for their actions primarily media people (either print, tv, or radio). Anyone with any sense of pride in their work would take this as a serious breach of work ethics or protocol. I can see the nurse's feeling of disrespect for patient confidentiality once the prank came to light. The "pranksters" need to have a consequence of more than just feeling bad. They were ultimately responsible for the nurse's feelings of failure in her duties.
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