Jacintha’s suicide note holds key to probe

Letter to family expected to provide vital clues; post-mortem report to be revealed at inquest today

London, 13 Dec 2012(Agencies): London Royal hoax nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found hanged in her flat and was said to have left a suicide note for her family, it was reported on Wednesday. Initial reports suggested that Saldanha was alive but unconscious when she was discovered. Some reports even said that paramedics made desperate attempts to resuscitate her after she was cut down, but she could not be revived.

 

Sky News, however, later reported that she was found dead. Saldanha, 46, had apparently left a note for her husband and two children, the contents of which have not been revealed. She had not told her family that she was involved in the hoax call, and the letter is expected to provide a vital clue to what prompted her to take the drastic step.

 

The Indian-origin nurse was found dead three days after being fooled by a prank call from two Australian DJs during Kate Middleton’s stay at King Edward VII Hospital in London.

Saldanha was staying in nurses’ flats near the hospital. Her husband, Benedict Barboza, desperately tried to track her down in the hours before her suicide. He had not heard from her for two days so phoned a friend to check on her, Daily Mirror reported. But Benedict did not hear anything back from the friend, and Saldanha was found dead at 9.25 am the next day. It is understood the family are making arrangements to return Saldanha’s body to India.

 

A private memorial service is expected to be held later this week. The Indian High Commission in London is in touch with Benedict and is helping him bring her body back to India. An external affairs ministry source said "Our mission is in touch with the husband of Saldanha and is assisting in smooth completion of various formalities involved in it."

 

Post-mortem result today

The result of a post-mortem on Jacintha Saldanha will be announced Thursday. Scotland Yard was unable to confirm reports that Saldanha hanged herself in the nurses’ accommodation in London.

 

"The coroner is in charge and she will make the announcement formally at the inquest tomorrow," a police spokesman said Wednesday. Ahead of the autopsy result, the death is officially being treated as unexplained though police said there was nothing suspicious.

 

 Family want to know everything 

Labour MP Keith Vaz said that Saldanha’s family were demanding answers from the hospital about the circumstances that led to her death. Although the hospital said they will conduct internal inquiries, the nurse’s husband Ben Barboza, 49, and children Junal, 17, and Lisha, 14 want to know everything, the Daily Mail reported.

 

Vaz, who met hospital chairman Lord Glenarthur, demanded a full inquiry. “What the chairman said was that there are inquiries going on. That is not sufficient for the family.

 

There are unexplained circumstances. The family want to know everything. All the facts, fully and clearly,” the Mail report quoted Vaz as saying. He added: “The hospital needs to be more pro-active, a full inquiry is needed and the family need to be included in that.”