Royal Hoax Nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, Left Suicide Note That Was 'Critical' Of Hospital Staff: Reports

Was The Royal Hoax Nurse 'Driven To Suicide' By Her Colleagues?

One of the three suicide notes written by the nurse who had been tricked by a hoax phone call about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge is said to contain "criticism" of the hospital where she worked.

The Guardian, citing two unnamed sources, said that one of the notes left by Jacintha Saldanha "deals with the hoax call," another "details her requests for her funeral," and the third "addresses her employers, the hospital, and contains criticism of staff there."

According to an Associated Press report, Saldanha was found "hanging from a scarf from a wardrobe in her nurses' quarters" on Dec. 7. The 46-year-old nurse also had injuries to her wrists, police said.

Two notes were reportedly found at the scene and another was discovered among Saldanha's belongings.

The case is being treated as an apparent suicide, and investigators say that there were "no suspicious circumstances" surrounding the woman's death.

Mere days before the mother-of-two was found, Saldanha had been the victim of a prank call carried out by two Australian DJs of the Sydney-based 2DayFM radio station. The radio hosts had called London's King Edward VII Hospital to get information about the pregnant royal Kate Middleton, who was being treated at the hospital at the time for hyperemesis gravidarum.

Saldanha was the nurse who had answered the call and transferred the two shock jocks to Middleton's nurse. Hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who had pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales respectively, were then treated to private medical details about Middleton's condition.

Though hospital staff insist that Saldanha and the other nurse involved had been offered "full support" after the hoax call and were assured that no disciplinary measures would be taken, one of the notes left by Saldanha was reportedly critical of her employers and colleagues. Her husband, Ben Barboza, is said to be seeking a "full inquiry" into what transpired in the days before his wife's death.

"One of the letters, which is the longest, deals with the hospital and is critical in its tone," the Mirror, quoting a "source close to Jacintha's family," wrote. "Needless to say, Ben wants a full inquiry into what happened, and he wants to make sure the truth comes out. Within the letter Jacintha calls into question some of the treatment she received at the hospital.”

On the other side of the globe, the two radio hosts involved in the prank continue to feel the backlash from the recent tragedy.

According to News.com.au, Greig and Christian, as well as other staff members of the media company that runs the radio station, have been forced to move into "safe house accommodation" this week due to a number of death threats.

Both DJs have publicly apologized for their role in the prank and insisted that they had never expected it to go quite so far.

"There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and what they must be going through," Greig told Australia's "A Current Affair," according to the AP. "And the thought that we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Before You Go

2dayFM Radio Presenters Taken Off Air Following Suicide of Royal Nurse

Kate Middleton Hoax Scandal

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