Contributing editor-at-large Tess Lawrence says the King Edward VII Hospital has launched a Jacintha Saldanha fund to head off a compensation claim by her family — and writes a letter to Lord Glenarthur.
EXCLUSIVE....BREAKING NEWS....JACINTHA SALDANHA CASE!
Independent Australia has received information that the King Edward VII Hospital set up the Jacintha Saldanha fund in a desperate effort to head off the potential for a multi-million pound compensation claim by her distraught family.
Further, that the hospital, whose Patron is The Queen, intended using the fund as leverage to persuade the family of the apparent suicide victim to sign a waiver form, indemnifying the hospital from any responsibility for Jacintha Saldanha's death.
It is understood that her family and close supporters are shocked at the insensitivity of the hospital and its ill-timed machinations, given that the post mortem on Jacintha Saldanha's body has not been completed and the cause and manner and circumstances of her mysterious death are yet to be announced.
It is understood that Chairman Lord Glenarthur proposed the fund in a vain attempt to assuage the family's grief and their understandable anger at not being informed of certain matters by hospital management, which are only now starting to come to light.
The Hospital has been both deft and vociferous in its attempts and PR spin to demonise Mel Greig and Michael Christian and to blame them and their station management for the death of Jacintha Saldantha.
[caption id="attachment_28076" align="alignnone" width="389"] Jessica Saldanha and Lord Glenarthurs[/caption]
It announced the 'memorial fund' on December 10 with these non-committal words carefully crafted to exempt it from liability:
KING EDWARD VII’S HOSPITAL LAUNCHES JACINTHA SALDANHA MEMORIAL FUND
King Edward VII’s Hospital would like to announce the launch of the Jacintha Saldanha Memorial Fund.
Lord Glenarthur, Chairman of King Edward VII’s Hospital, says, “Jacintha Saldanha sadly died last week in tragic circumstances. She was an outstanding nurse whose loss has shocked and saddened everyone at the hospital. Following discussions with her family, we have now established the Jacintha Saldanha Memorial Fund in her memory.”
Chief Executive John Lofthouse says, “Everyone is aware of the terrible events of the past week. All our thoughts are with Jacintha’s family, her husband and children. We have offered them our deepest condolences and any support that we can provide. We know that many people around the world would like to do the same, and so we have established this fund in order that donations can be used to help the family at this tragic time. King Edward VII’s Hospital will, of course, be supporting this important initiative.”
The memorial fund has been set up by King Edward VII’s Hospital and all donations will go to the family of Jacintha Saldanha.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Jacintha Saldanha Memorial Fund can do so using the following details:
Account Name: King Edward VII’s Hospital – Jacintha Saldanha Memorial Fund
However, our sources say the family had little say in relation to the Memorial Fund.
Moreover, the hospital has made a vague statement only to the effect that: -
'King Edward VII’s Hospital will, of course, be supporting this important initiative.'
But the hospital has failed to disclose the manner of such support.
It fails to say if it will donate to the Memorial Fund.
It fails to stipulate the amount of money it will donate.
None of this prevented Lord Glenarthur from audaciously inviting Southern Cross Austrereoto contribute to his own hospital's fund — despite the fact the network has set up its own fund and unlike King Edward Hospital, has nominated a sum and publicly pledged half a million Australian dollars to the family.
Speaking to CNN, Lord Glenarthur, when asked to comment on the radio network's pledge had this to say about the hospital's fund:
"Many donations have already been made from around the world, he said, and the hospital would "certainly welcome" a contribution from Southern Cross Austereo."
Controversial Labour MP Keith Vaz, whose nickname is 'Vazeline' because of the political scrapes he has survived has been unequivocal in his disdain for how the King Edward hospital has treated Jacintha Saldanha's family. He has been assisting the family in its representations to the hospital.
Writing about him in The Telegraph (UK) David Hughes put it this way [IA emphasis]:
The heart-rending image of Jacintha Saldanha’s grieving family visiting her nurses’ accommodation yesterday was given an air of the macabre by the hovering presence of Keith Vaz, the Labour MP for Leicester East and chairman of the home affairs select committee. He is not the family’s constituency MP – they live in Bristol – so what was he doing there? It may be the case that he was able to bring comfort and solace to the family at this appalling time. And, God knows, the family needs as much support as it can get. Vaz told the BBC that Jacintha’s employer, the King Edward VII hospital, has not offered any assistance or counselling, which is unforgivable.
But was something else going on? Vaz is one of Parliament’s great survivors and has weathered more scandals than most; here’s a useful round-up of his unhappy relationship with the parliamentary authorities. That he is still an MP, and still chairs an important select committee, helps explain why his nickname in the Commons is “Vazeline” – as nothing sticks. But he is more than just a survivor, as reported:
Such is his power in the corridors of Westminster and his influence on the important Asian vote to Labour that a lavish party to celebrate his 25th year in parliament in July was attended by Tony Blair, David Miliband, Theresa May and Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
INDEPENDENT AUSTRALIA ASKS LORD GLENARTHUR FOR ANSWERS
Independent Australia has sent a copy of our article headlined 'Who killed Jacintha Saldanha?' to Lord Glenarthur, the Governor/Chairman and a trustee of the King Edward Vll Hospital Sister Agnes in London.
The article is an Open Letter addressed to Lord Glenarthur and Royal Security Personnel and was published on our website on Monday night.
In the article, we disclose exclusive information and pose a number of salient questions directed at His Lordship and the royal minders responsible for the care of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
These questions relate to the incompetence of hospital management and the breakdown of royal and security protocols on the morning of the prank call by 2Day FM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian.
The subsequent apparent suicide of Indian born nurse Jacintha Saldanha has been unanimously blamed on Greig and Christian, who had successfully duped two hospital staff members by pretending that they were the Queen, Prince Charles and even the royal corgis.
Nurse Jacintha Saldanha initially answered their phone call and put them through to another nurse colleague on duty, who was also duped by the pair, and who proceeded to give them an update on the medical condition of the Duchess of Cambridge, who had been hospitalised after experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum — severe morning sickness.
I remain concerned with the 'digital lynch mob' being whipped up against the two presenters. Leading the charge is Lord Glenarthur, the royal minders and British media.
It is important for Justice at any level, to be evenly prosecuted and defended.
There is an ugly imbalance here.
The scales are already weighed against Greig and Christian — and yet little media attention has been given, if any, to the lack of duty of care by the hospital and the royal minders and the failure of both systems on the morning in question.
Given that Lord Glenarthur has sought to distance himself from any responsibility for the human cost and the loss of life now attributed to Jacintha Saldanha answering the phone – even to the extent of publicly writing to 2DayFM's owners, Southern Cross Media, admonishing them – it is our belief that Lord Glenarthur should publicly answer a number of questions that British and other journalists have failed to put to him.
We have done this in the public interest. To this end, we sent the following email yesterday addressed to Lord Glenarthur to both the King Edward VII Hospital Sister Agnes and to Audax Global.
THE EMAIL
Dear Lord Glenarthur,
I am sending you a link to my article published last night on Independent Australia.
It is an Open Letter to yourself and Royal Security Personnel in relation to the tragic death of Jacintha Saldanha.
I would be grateful if you would respond to the questions I ask of you, by return email and as soon as possible.
In the interests of the public, transparency and accountability I undertake to include and publish your response in Independent Australia and elsewhere.
Kind Regards
Tess Lawrence, Contributing Editor at Large, Independent Australia
Consultant in Crisis Management and Ethical Media Services & Multi-Cultural and Inter-Faith matters.
WHO KILLED JACINTHA SALDANHA?
AN OPEN LETTER TO LORD GLENARTHUR AND ROYAL SECURITY PERSONNEL
by Tess Lawrence. Contributing Editor at Large, Independent Australia
'The hysteria and outrage from the British media, hospital executives, including the Lord Glenarthur and now the UK constabularly, is nothing more than a carefully orchestrated campaign designed to deflect attention offshore (and where better than the uncouth Antipodes,a former colony and still under the royal warrant) to protect the real culprits, whose incompetence and dereliction of both duty and care led to the prank’s success and was compounded by the subsequent inept management of the scenario.'
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/life/health/who-killed-jacintha-saldanha/
ENDS
QUESTIONS
The article referred to in the email above contains questions to His Lordship about Jacintha Saldanha and poses questions relating to a suicide note (confirmed by our sources). Here are some of the questions we asked of His Lordship.
- Did Jacintha Saldanha commit suicide?
- How and why do you know/presume this?
- If so, how did she commit suicide?
- Did she take an overdose or take poison?
- Did she leave a note?
- Had she discussed suicide with her colleagues?
- Have all staff been counselled after the death of Jacintha Saldanha?
- Why wasn’t a suicide watch placed on both nurses?
- Can you confirm that any counsellors you provided for the two nurses deemed both women not to be a suicide risk?
I also sent copies of the Lord Glenarthur email to several media outlets yesterday, including The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail. The latter has been particularly caustic about the Australian pranksters and their station 2Day FM and station management, but rather lacking in any coherent investigation of the hospital's conduct and that of royal security and minders.
In a remarkable co-incidence of serendipitous timing, mere hours after I sent The Evening Standard the Lord Glenarthur email (before The Daily Mail's), lo and behold, the Standard wrote about the suicide note and others quoted the Standard and soon the girdle was put around the world, including boomeranging back to be published in Australia.
Both these publications are owned by Associated Newspapers and DMG Media (Daily Mail Group) is well known for its stake in a number of radio stations in Australia and these stations are direct competitors with Southern Cross Austereo.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="316"] Lachlan Murdoch[/caption]
This is some of what you'll find on the DMG website in Oz [IA emphasis]:
About DMG Radio Australia
DMG Radio Australia is one of Australia’s most exciting new media companies to emerge in the past two decades. Under the leadership of one of Australia's iconic media executives, Paul Thompson AM, it commenced operations in 1996, purchasing a raft of regional radio stations to become the largest operator of radio companies in this country. These were later sold to Macquarie Media Group.
By 2004, it had acquired 9 new FM radio licences and now broadcasts the highly successful national Nova network, 95.3FM in Sydney and 91.5FM in Melbourne. It also operates Adelaide’s talk/sport radio station Fiveaa in Adelaide and StarFM on the Central Coast.
The Nova network broke new media ground with its reduced clutter environment offering 40% less ads and innovative creative solutions for advertisers.
DMG’s digital radio stations include the dance station Novanation and the chillout music station Koffee.
In November 2009, Lachlan Murdoch’s Illyria acquired a 50 percent stake in the company from the Daily Mail & General Trust. Under Mr. Murdoch's Chairmanship, DMG continues to forge ahead into the online and digital space.
In September 2012, Illyria moved to 100% ownership of DMG Radio by purchasing the remaining 50% stake in the company from the Daily Mail & General Trust.
[Above sentence added 8.32pm December 13, 2012, after IA notified DMG CEO Cathy O'Connor we had, as already stated above, simply downloaded this material from the DMG website on December 12. Ms O'Connor had earlier asked IA for a correction. Ms O'Connor has since 'updated' her website. ]
And for radio heads, or investigative journalists, and British journalists in particular, here's a cheat list of DMG's stations from their website.
Our Stations
Below are all the links you need to find all of DMG Radio Australia radio station websites.
NovaFMhttp://www.novafm.com.au/station/nova969 (Sydney)http://www.novafm.com.au/station/nova100 (Melbourne)http://www.novafm.com.au/station/nova1069 (Brisbane)http://www.novafm.com.au/station/nova919 (Adelaide)http://www.novafm.com.au/station/nova937 (Perth)
smoothfmhttp://www.smoothfm.com.au/station/smooth953 (Sydney)http://www.smoothfm.com.au/station/smooth915 (Melbourne)
FIVEaahttp://www.fiveaa.com.au (Adelaide)
Star 104.5http://www.star1045.com.au (Central Coast)
Digital Radiohttp://www.novanation.com.au (National)http://www.koffee.com.au (National)
It beggars belief that poor Jacintha Saldanha's partner and family were not even aware of, or informed by the King Edward VII Hospital management, or Lord Glenarthur, that she had been involved in 'an incident involving the Duchess of Cambridge' and might have been in need of a cuddle or reassurance from her loved ones.
We are told her family was so proud that she worked for the 'Royal' hospital. But I suspect that behind all of this great sadness, we will find the worst aspects of both pride and prejudice in equal measure.
Please click here to read the original Lawrence article in full.
And please do not hesitate to call LIFELINE on 13 11 14, if you or anyone you love or know of, is feeling the sads and needs to talk.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
