Royal hoax call: Nurse was treated for depression last year

Indian nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who reportedly committed suicide in London on December 7, days after being the victim of a royal hoax call by two Australian radio jockeys, was admitted in a Mangalore hospital for a depressive disorder in December 2011 when she visited India with her family for Christmas, a member of her family said.

"It is true that she was taken to the Fr Muller Medical College Hospital in Mangalore during her visit last Christmas. We are not commenting on whether it was a suicide attempt,'' said the family member, following reports in the local media that she had attempted to kill herself on two occasions during her last visit to India.

According to local reports from Mangalore, medical records from the nurse's stay in hospital during her last visit, ostensibly for a serious fall, suggested that she was diagnosed with a depressive disorder due to a history of stress and that she may have tried to harm herself.

The exact cause and trigger for the depression was not known and the nurse had been treated, put under medication and discharged in January, reports said.

Jacintha, who worked at the King Edward VII Hospital in London, was a victim of a prank call by two Australian RJs who pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles as they enquired into the well-being of the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who was a patient at the hospital.

Days later, Jacintha was found dead in her quarters in London.

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