Who was at fault for Jacintha Saldanha's suicide?
I'll tell you who - Jacintha Saldanha, that's who. Everybody is going nuts blaming the two Aussie radio DJs for her death, but the simple truth is that it was not their fault, any more than it was your fault or my fault, that Mrs Saldanha died - it was entirely and only of her own doing, and nobody else can be held responsible.
She was probably mentally disturbed or stressed or something, in the first place, because can you imagine anyone else killing themselves over a stupid prank that made NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER to anybody, least of all Kate Middleton? It shouldn't have made a difference to Mrs Saldanha either. She wasn't being persecuted by the tabloids - in fact, she hadn't been "outed" as the nurse who was taken in by the DJs, and not even her name was mentioned until she turned up dead. Until then she was only "a nurse" or "the nurse who". The truth is that literally nobody (outside of her immediate colleagues, perhaps) knew who she was, until she turned up dead by her own hand.
I assume that she was not British-born and bred, otherwise she might have recognised the accents of the DJs as Australian, or at least as not British. That she didnt realise it wasn't the Queen and Prince Philip was, therefore, not surprising. It wasn't like she gave away state secrets to the DJs, or revealed anything really personal about Kate - I mean, she didn't say "yeah, Kate's had trouble taking a dump because of her haemorrhoids", did she? She did absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or worried about, and an honest mistake is not a sackable offence. At worst, it would have been a mildly embarrassing issue.
I sincerely believe that it takes a special kind of stupid for someone to be so incredibly, selfishly sensitive over a non-issue and kill themselves without a thought for their children. Well, either that or mental illness. Either way, the DJs are not to blame. What are entertainers meant to do, check with potential "prankees" and get their permission in writing before they play a harmless prank on them?
As it is, the swiftness with which this nurse killed herself is the ONLY reason the Daily Mail got to harass the Aussie DJs and not her. Otherwise the Daily Mail would definitely have discovered who she was, published her photo and that of her children and husband and pets and more than likely the £250,000 family home in London, played up her gullibility in falling for the prank, run an opinion piece by one of their "calumnists" (as I term them) on how if the nurse had been White British rather than Indian she would have realised the Queen doesn't speak Aussie, and added a couple of sidebars on how immigrants from India are stealing away jobs that rightly belong to the British, and how asylum seekers are living in luxury off British taxpayers in a £1.5 million home for free.
*deeeeeeeeeep breath*
There. Now I'm done.
11 comments:
I was thinking the same thing. It wasn't a malicious prank or anything...a simple "gotcha" and she goes and offs herself? Don't feel sorry for her...feel really bad for the kids....but not her.
Finally! A voice of reason. I'm pretty sure there's more to her death than simply the hoax call. And all the brouhaha in Indian media - do we need a reason to be outraged? - demanding an apology from the Australians. Please!!
Absolutely agree with you. Very well written piece.
I echo Ammani's comment. Very well said, Shyam, bravo!
FINALLY! Finally you post, and finally I read something sensible about the subject. Posting it everywhere I can.
Sounds to me like it's the fault of the Daily Mail!
Totally with you on this, It looks like, if at all anyone is to be blamed, it is the woman herself, not even those doughty royals who apparently kicked up a goddamn fuss when the prank was outed. The nurse was Mangalore-born and moved to UK just ten years ago--explains the unfamiliarity with the Queen's English.The worse thing that could have happened to her, had she not 'turned up dead' (lovely turn of phrase, btw), was that she would have been sacked by the hospital. So bloody what? Too much ado over nothing, this whole thing.
Hi Shyam,
While it was definitely not anyone's fault, per se, to say it was incredibly selfishly sensitive and call it a non-issue, is slightly insensitive in itself. We are, most likely, not privvy to the whole story, and while her employer has gone on record to say they didn't "discipline" her, there is no doubt a violation of security/protocol like this, would have invoked some disciplining, even if it wasn't sacking. Then there is the possibility of mental illness, of course, as you rightly pointed out. I do believe that in reality, for her, it was more than "mildly embarrassing" which made her take such a drastic step.
Faye.
Hi Faye
When I wrote this post, I was reacting to the news current at the time. But now it certainly is looking like under stress at work, with the hospital probably overreacting to this non-life-threatening event, pretty much like the tabloids all over.
I just wish she had not killed herself - did her family not even realise she was stressed/depressed, I wonder. Such a waste of a life, and HOW traumatic for her children.
I do agree with you about wishing she hadn't killed herself. I feel somehow, she didn't give herself a chance. The whole business seems quite scary - the possibility that she had nobody whom she could confide in and seek support from at a difficult time, even family.
Wishing you and the family a merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year. Keep writing!
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