Why such controversy over prank?

[downbeatplumb]

The DJs involved encouraged the nurse to break the Data Protection Act which can lead to a fine, imprisonment and or the sack.

No they didn't. They never mentioned the act; ergo, there was no encouragement for the (second) nurse to break it. They asked for information, and the nurse broke the act by giving it to them.

Asking a data holder for sensitive information IS asking them to break the act.
You don't have to name it.

She should have denied them that information.

Agreed. She should have denied then the information, but that was her queen on the phone and she was probably dazzled by the attention and made a stupid error.

The hospital stated that they were not disciplining the nurses involved.

Well not now anyway.

Personally I can understand what the woman did embarrassment on this scale can be almost painful.

True, but to some extent it was brought upon herself. She screwed up; didn't ask any questions to verify their identities, and assumed she was talking to the Queen.

Even if some of you feel she needed to be "mentally unwell" or have other problems. I can see how this incident could have been enough all by itself to cause the death, especially as it is in the full glare of publicity which would have made things 1000 times worse.

You clearly know nothing about depression and suicide if you think someone with a stable mind would commit suicide over this. The event was in the public eye, true, but the nurses themselves weren't. The nurse who committed suicide was only identified after she did so, and as far as I am aware, the nurse who actually gave away the information is still unknown.

She may have had no mental problems right up to the precipitating event.
Sudden trauma emotional or physical, can cause changes in behaviour in otherwise mentally healthy people.

An adjustment disorder occurs when an individual is unable to adjust to or cope with a particular stressor, like a major life event. Since people with this disorder normally have symptoms that depressed people do, such as general loss of interest, feelings of hopelessness and crying, this disorder is also sometimes known as situational depression.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjustment_disorder