(mild trigger warning as this is a discussion of a suicide) Jacintha Saldanha was a nurse working at King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes in London, UK. She committed suicide after mistakenly releasing information on Duchess Kate Middleton's hospital admission in December of 2012.

And why am I only hearing buzz about this now? I didn't hear a thing about it when it occurred two years prior...

Anyways. This has been on my mind a lot recently because it just feels really fucked up to me. I don't know, I don't see anyone else reacting as strongly because it's seen as more of an unfortunate collide of circumstances, but it's not to me. It very clearly is a tragedy. If nurse Saldanha had made the same mistake with a plebian patient, she would probably have recovered from it. She already was depressed and felt singled out in her work place, and once you become relevant in infamy, well... In a depressed, sad mind, there's nowhere else to go from there. You weren't liked to begin with, and suddenly you're known for a big-ass fuck-up.

She was an intelligent, beautiful, educated woman, a nurse who saved lives; I can't speak for how she felt, but it just is very apparent to me that this is an example of the problem of how society's emphasis on our ideas of wealth, glory, and success impact a person's self esteem. And not just to those vulnerable- when there is constant external reinforcement of your unworthiness, even a strong mind will slowly believe it.

It's sick. You have this extraordinarily accomplished and competent person feeling like they amount to one scrutinized, highly-publicized failure. And I want people to learn from this. Her suicide should not be in vain when it highlights this pervasive issue on the part of society and hierarchy so well. She should not be remembered in infamy, but in glory. I feel a strong connection to her, and I feel responsible for at least sharing my thoughts and raising my voice to set a precedent. I don't know where to even BEGIN and I'm not confident that my political and academic writing skills are very strong...... But I wanted to start a discussion here first, where I'm comfortable in that I won't be called a radical, or crazy. /: And to see if anyone else saw it from this point of view- or another point of view? Let's share.