A nurse who answered a prank call at the London hospital that was treating Prince William’s pregnant wife Kate for morning sickness has been found dead, the hospital said on Friday, in a suspected suicide.
The death comes days after the King Edward VII hospital apologized for being duped by an Australian radio station and relaying details about Kate’s condition which made headlines around the globe.
“It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha,” King Edward VII chief executive John Lofthouse told reporters outside the central London hospital. “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.”
Police said they had been called at 9:35am about a woman found unconscious at an address near the hospital. The woman was pronounced dead after ambulance staff arrived. Police said the death was being treated as unexplained, but they were not looking for anyone else, indicating the nurse had taken her own life.
William and Kate, who left the hospital on Thursday, said they were “deeply saddened” by the death of the nurse, who was married with two children.
“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,” a statement from William’s office said.
The radio station launched its stunt in the wake of a frenzy of media attention in Britain and worldwide after officials announced Kate was pregnant with a future British king or queen. Two presenters from Australia’s 2DayFM radio station called the hospital early on Tuesday British time, pretending to be William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and his father, the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.
Despite unconvincing accents, presenters Michael Christian and Mel Greig were put through to the ward where Kate was being treated and were given details about how she was faring. Saldanha had answered the call as it was early morning and there were no receptionists on duty, and had passed it to a nurse on the ward.
Saldanha, who had worked at the hospital for four years, had not been facing any disciplinary action, a source said.
“She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues,” Lofthouse said.
William’s office said there had been no royal complaint about the breach of confidentiality, although the hospital said it was reviewing its “telephone protocols.”
“On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times,” a royal spokesman said.
Prince Charles had made light of the intrusion, joking to reporters after the incident: “How do you know I’m not a radio station?”
The private hospital is one of Britain’s most exclusive and has a history of treating members of the royal family, including the Queen’s husband, Philip, who was admitted in June for a bladder infection after taking part in a jubilee pageant.
The radio station and its owner, Southern Cross Austereo, said the presenters were shocked and would stay off air until further notice.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS