British nurse inquest to focus on hospital protocols

With British police ruling out charges being laid against 2Day-FM and the two announcers who were at the centre of hoax call to the King Edward VII hospital last year, the inquest into the suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha which reopens at Westminster Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, is likely to focus on the hospital’s role in the incident.

It was Mrs Saldanha who answered a the phone call from fill-in Hot 30 hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian and spoke to them briefly before putting the call through to Kate Middleton’s room where another nurse, attending the Duchess of Cambridge, spoke at length and became the main subject of the on-air prank.

Mrs Saldanha’s family is reportedly keen to find out exactly what protocols the hospital had in place that allowed two DJs from Australia to so easily breach its security.

The family’s counsel, John Cooper QC,told the Independent Newspaper, “The family believe there are questions to be asked about the hospital protocols that led to Mrs Saldanha being put in that job on that night.”

British MP Keith Vaz, who has also been representing Ms Saldanha’s family, says three months after the Indian-born nurse committed suicide there remain a number of unanswered questions.

The SMH reported him as wanting to know why King Edward VII hospital had a nurse rather than a trained operator answering calls at reception.

“The family remain hopeful the inquest and investigation will provide the answers they seek,” the MP said in a statement.

 

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