Author: scienceplease 2
Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 10:24 am (GMT 0)
No note to husband, kids and family?
Injuries to wrist?
Meanwhile... the family suspects foul play and want an independent enquiry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/13/jacintha-saldanha-suicide-notes
Quote:
One of three apparent suicide notes left by the nurse at the centre of the royal hoax phone call criticised staff at the King Edward VII hospital where she worked, the Guardian has learned.
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanged in her apartment in the nurses' quarter of the hospital in Marylebone, central London, by a colleague and a security officer, an inquest into her death heard on Thursday. Three notes were found, two at the scene and one in the nurse's belongings.
She was found dead three days after two DJs rang the hospital from Australia posing as the Queen and Prince Charles in a prank call which Saldanha answered and put through to another nurse on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness.
The dead woman's family has been given typed copies of the three handwritten notes by the police and has read the contents, the Guardian has been told.
One note deals with the hoax call by the DJs from 2Day FM, another details her requests for her funeral, and the third addresses her employers, the hospital, and contains criticism of staff there, the Guardian understands from two separate sources.
The Westminster coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, was told at the formal opening of the inquest that she had been found hanging in her apartment and there were also injuries to her wrists.
The hearing was told that paramedics who attended the scene in Weymouth Street made several attempts to revive her.
Scotland Yard is investigating a number of emails which the inquest heard were relevant to the nurse's death, as well as telephone calls made to and from her phone in the days before her death.
The Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is acting as a spokesman for Saldanha's husband and two children, published a letter from him to John Lofthouse, chief executive of the King Edward Vll hospital, calling for the "full facts" of what happened to be given to the family.
Earlier this week the nurse's family met Lofthouse and handed over a list of questions they want answered. Vaz said in his letter to Lofthouse: "I have dealt with similar cases in the past and I would agree with the prime minister that the family need to get the full facts, from the time she took the call from 2Day FM to the time she was found in her accommodation.
"The family gave you a list of questions that they wish the hospital to answer so that they can have the full facts of the case. I know they would appreciate answers to their questions in writing as soon as possible. They may also have additional questions."
Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said at the inquest that the Metropolitan police would be contacting officers in New South Wales as part of its inquiry. He said: "On Friday 7 December Jacintha Saldanha was found by colleagues and a member of security staff. At this time there are no suspicious circumstances apparent to me in relation to this death.
"A number of notes were recovered. Two notes were at the scene and a further note was found in the deceased's belongings. Three notes in total."
Saldanha, a mother of two, was identified by her husband, an accountant, the inquest heard.
Harman told the hearing: "There are a number of emails that are of relevance in helping us establish what may have led to this death and we are also looking at the deceased's telephone contacts. Detectives spoke to a number of witnesses, family, friends and colleagues in order to establish anything that led or may have contributed to this tragic death."
Saldanha was found three days after the DJs made the prank call. As the nurse on duty, she took the call and put it through to a colleague on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness, who gave out information about her condition.
Harman told the coroner: "You will be aware of the wider circumstances of this case. And I expect in the very near future we shall be in contact with colleagues in New South Wales to establish the best means of putting the evidence before you."
The coroner's officer Lynda Martindill told the hearing that Saldanha, born in India, was a registered nurse and night nurse. Toxicology and histology test results were pending.
Adjourning the inquest until 26 March, Wilcox spoke directly to Saldanha's colleagues who attended the hearing. She said: "I wish to pass on my sympathy to you and her family and all those touched by this terribly tragic death"."
A spokeswoman for the hospital said no one in senior management knew what the contents of the notes left by Saldanha were. She said the hospital management "were very clear that there were no disciplinary issues in this matter".
Both the nurses involved had been offered "full support" and "it was made clear they were victims of a cruel journalistic trick", she said.
The hospital has offered bereavement counselling for the family in Bristol, which they have decided to take up, according to Vaz.
The family did not attend the hearing. Speaking outside the inquest Vaz said Saldanha's relatives were "grieving in their homes … They are comforting each other and the community is comforting them".
He said he had passed on the coroner's comments. The family were grateful to the coroner's office and Metropolitan police, he added.
A memorial service will be held in Bristol. A mass will be held in the chapel at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/uk-family-suspects-foul-play-in-indian-nurse-s-death_816179.html
Quote:
UK: Family suspects 'foul play' in Indian nurse's death
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 00:24
Bangalore: British authorities will conduct a postmortem and an inquest into the mysterious death of Indian nurse Jacintha Saldhana in London, but her family in Karnataka suspects "foul play" and wants an independent inquiry into the tragic episode.
"Jacintha's grieving family is anxiously waiting for the postmortem report and the outcome of the inquest by the Scotland Yard, because they suspect foul play in her tragic death as she was a strong woman and would not have resorted to such an act (suicide)," her family's close friend Ivan D'Souza told a news agewncy Tuesday from Mangalore, about 350 km from Bangalore.
In the absence of details or more information on the incident from Jacintha's husband Benedict Barboza from London, members of both the families have been avoiding media as they are in a state of mourning.
"They are too shocked to say anything to the media and are more worried on how Benedict and his two kids are coping with the tragedy in Bristol, where they reside. "Am told Benedict was allowed to see Jacintha's body Monday at the King Edward VII Hospital in central London," said D'Souza, general secretary of the opposition Congress in the state and a neighbour of Jacintha's family in Mangalore.
Barboza's family, however, lives at Shirva, about 60 km from Mangalore and 400 km from Bangalore.
D'Souza met Barboza's family members at Shirva along with former party MP Vinay Kumar Sorake to condole Jacintha's death and enquire about their welfare.
According to Jacintha's brother Naveen Saldhana, the family is waiting for the arrival of the body in Mangalore, with Benedict and his two children Junal, 16, and Lisha, 14, for the last rites that will be performed at Shirva as per the Catholic tradition.
"The family is expecting the British authorities to hand over Jacintha's body to Benedict either Tuesday or Wednesday so that he could fly to Mangalore via Mumbai on the same day or Thursday for the last rites Friday.
"It depends on how long the postmortem and inquest would take and when Benedict would get the flight to Mumbai and a connecting flight to Mangalore," D'Souza noted.
The family members are also mulling over seeking a second postmortem in India if they and Benedict are not satisfied with the inquest outcome in London.
"As Indian laws are applicable even in Britain, the family members are thinking of asking for a second postmortem under section 154 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 if they are not convinced about the exact cause of Jacintha's death, being investigated by the Scotland Yard," D'Souza asserted.
Saldhana was found unconscious Dec 7 in the quarters of the hospital in central London where she was working as a senior nurse, and was pronounced dead when wheeled into the hospital in an ambulance.
"I have known and seen Jacintha when ever she visited Mangalore over the years as her family members, including mother, a sister and a brother reside next door. She was a pleasant lady and warm with friends and relatives," D'Souza recalled.
Jacintha, 46, who graduated from Father Muller College of Nursing in Mangalore in the mid-1980s, first worked at Muscat (Oman) for a few years and went to London after marriage 15 years ago to live with Barboza, an accountant in the British National Health Service at Bristol, 190 km from London.
"We didn't even know that Jacintha got unwittingly involved in the hoax call though we read something about it in newspapers last week that there was a prank call to the hospital from a radio station in Australia, whose jockeys tried to know about the princess's ( Kate Middleton) health by imitating the voice of the queen (Elizabeth) and prince (Charles)," Jacintha's nephew said but declined to be named.