PR Analysis on Jacintha Saldanha's Death
Question 1
King Edward VII’s Hospital Sister Agnes, established in 1899 with over a century’s worth of history brags about their top notch facilities, professional health consultants and nursing staff, zero occurrence of hospital-acquired MRSA infections and of course, its connection with the royal family (Standards 2013). However, the hospital came face to face with a major crisis when Mel Greig and Michael Christian, hosts of commercial radio station 2Day FM made a prank call to acquire confidential information of one of its patron at the time, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. The suicide of Jacintha Saldanha surfaced three days after being the first person to receive the hoax phone call before passing it to the duchess’ private nurse. This essay aims to highlight the ethical implications involved in this case study, the PR strategies taken by the radio station and whether the actions taken are appropriate in regards to the death of the British nurse.
When the Jacintha’s case of suicide arose, the ultimate question was: Why did she turn to suicide? Despite previous records of Jacintha’s suicide attempts (Taher 2012), it was reported that she had no signs of mental frailness at the time of her work shift before she received the prank call (Sykes 2012). While it remains unclear if the hoax call drove Jacintha suicidal, it may have acted as a catalyst (Baker 2012) since a note containing expression of anger addressed to the two radio hosts was found after Jacintha’s death (Johnson 2012). The ethical implications ensued involves multiple parties including King Edward VII’s Hospital itself. The hospital holds the responsibility to keep records of patients confidential. Privacy is everyone’s right and should not be deprived of having it. The breach of the Duchess’ privacy occurred as Jacintha, a staff nurse had allowed the hoax call to go through. The situation should be looked from the perspective of Jacintha’s job description. A nurse is present to assist a
King Edward VII’s Hospital Sister Agnes, established in 1899 with over a century’s worth of history brags about their top notch facilities, professional health consultants and nursing staff, zero occurrence of hospital-acquired MRSA infections and of course, its connection with the royal family (Standards 2013). However, the hospital came face to face with a major crisis when Mel Greig and Michael Christian, hosts of commercial radio station 2Day FM made a prank call to acquire confidential information of one of its patron at the time, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. The suicide of Jacintha Saldanha surfaced three days after being the first person to receive the hoax phone call before passing it to the duchess’ private nurse. This essay aims to highlight the ethical implications involved in this case study, the PR strategies taken by the radio station and whether the actions taken are appropriate in regards to the death of the British nurse.
When the Jacintha’s case of suicide arose, the ultimate question was: Why did she turn to suicide? Despite previous records of Jacintha’s suicide attempts (Taher 2012), it was reported that she had no signs of mental frailness at the time of her work shift before she received the prank call (Sykes 2012). While it remains unclear if the hoax call drove Jacintha suicidal, it may have acted as a catalyst (Baker 2012) since a note containing expression of anger addressed to the two radio hosts was found after Jacintha’s death (Johnson 2012). The ethical implications ensued involves multiple parties including King Edward VII’s Hospital itself. The hospital holds the responsibility to keep records of patients confidential. Privacy is everyone’s right and should not be deprived of having it. The breach of the Duchess’ privacy occurred as Jacintha, a staff nurse had allowed the hoax call to go through. The situation should be looked from the perspective of Jacintha’s job description. A nurse is present to assist a