Tragic twist

[justginger]

I don't know how much publicity this has received in the States, but at the moment the story being talked about in Australia is the 2DayFM radio DJs' prank gone very, very wrong.

In case it hasn't been spoken of, basically the DJs called the hospital where Kate was staying in London and spoke to two nurses there. They pretended to be the Queen and Charles, asking after the status of Kate. Their accents were TERRIBLE and obviously they did not expect to get anywhere with that call. But they did, one nurse forwarded on the call to another, who then revealed 'personal' information regarding Kate. This personal information consisted of no more than what had already been told to the media, with the exception of speculation that perhaps she wasn't comfortable in an unfamiliar bed. Nothing disastrous. Obviously a mistake, 'confidential' information spoken of, but nothing that the royals wouldn't get over I don't think.

Very sadly, one of the nurses has since committed suicide, leaving a husband and two young children. She wasn't even the one who gave away the information; she was the one who forwarded on the phone call. The DJs have since been suspended, will perhaps be fired, and the public has been roaring with outrage and calling for their heads, basically.

So who is to blame? I tend to think...no one. It was a poorly thought out, inappropriate joke. Those DJs would have never wanted her to lose her job, let alone even entertained the idea of her losing her life. It's not a rational outcome that one would anticipate to what seems to me to be an embarrassing prank and nothing more.

What do you think? What ownership do the DJs have in this situation?

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

I don't blame the DJs but I think the radio station should have exercised better judgment and not put the prank call to air in the first place. No, there was no way to know the nurse was going to react the way they did but surely they knew there was going to be a negative effect for someone by airing this, whether it was The hospital, the nurses or the royals.

My heart goes out to the nurse and her family. Such a tragic result for a stupid prank.

I sincerely hope some good comes out of this and the media have learnt a valuable lesson and leave Kate alone for the rest of her pregnancy and birth of their first child.

 

[justginger]

I don't blame the DJs but I think the radio station should have exercised better judgment and not put the prank call to air in the first place. No, there was no way to know the nurse was going to react the way they did but surely they knew there was going to be a negative effect for someone by airing this, whether it was The hospital, the nurses or the royals.

My heart goes out to the nurse and her family. Such a tragic result for a stupid prank.

I sincerely hope some good comes out of this and the media have learnt a valuable lesson and leave Kate alone for the rest of her pregnancy and birth of their first child.

I definitely agree with this. It is one thing to think a prank won't really work and try anyway, it's another to air it once it has worked. Someone should have put more thought into the decision to air the segment. It honestly would have been far more entertaining, and far less hurtful, if it had fallen flat via someone giving them a bollocking for their atrocious fake accents.

 

[zoebartlett]

It's all over the new here in the US, too. I'm not sure the DJs are to blame for what happened, but the radio station could have, should have chosen not to air the prank. It's a horrible tragedy, and I feel awful for the nurse's husband and daughter (I'm sorry, but I don't know if she has other children. I know one daughter was mentioned.). I can't help but wonder if there was something else going on in this woman's life that would make her feel like she had no other options but to end her life. I truly don't mean to be insensitive at all, but would someone do what she did because of a radio prank or was the timing...coincidental? I can't help but feel badly for the DJs, too.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

I definitely agree with this. It is one thing to think a prank won't really work and try anyway, it's another to air it once it has worked. Someone should have put more thought into the decision to air the segment. It honestly would have been far more entertaining, and far less hurtful, if it had fallen flat via someone giving them a bollocking for their atrocious fake accents.

Yes I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Enerchi]

Being well covered here in Canada as well.

You'd think the media would have learned after the death of Diana... no... not so. It must be so hard to be constantly pursued by the press /paparazzi (Royals, celebrities, wanna be celebs....) but at what point, do the tragedies FINALLY become a lesson to learn from?? Are we not there YET??

 

[JewelFreak]

You'd think the media would have learned after the death of Diana...

My first thought too, Enerchi, and it's easy to imagine how much William & Harry must HATE the media after all the awful things they've done for lurid stories.

My 2nd thought was, "Oh, if the nurse had only waited a few days!" Haven't you done things that embarrass you SO much, for a day or so you truly want to die? You can't possibly imagine facing another human being again? I have....probably everyone has. But you have to go on, & you find that people don't blame you -- or didn't even notice in the first place. Soon you can look back & shrug; laugh, if you're lucky. It wasn't a big deal in your life after all.

She acted in the first heat of horror, poor soul. Passing on the call was a mistake anyone could've made, & not damaging to the RF. I just wish she had waited a few days....she would have seen that.

No, the DJs didn't even expect the hoax to work, but it was a stupid unamusing idea in the first place. Agree the station should not have broadcast it.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

My 2nd thought was, "Oh, if the nurse had only waited a few days!" Haven't you done things that embarrass you SO much, for a day or so you truly want to die? You can't possibly imagine facing another human being again? I have....probably everyone has. But you have to go on, & you find that people don't blame you -- or didn't even notice in the first place. Soon you can look back & shrug; laugh, if you're lucky. It wasn't a big deal in your life.

This has been going over and over in my head as well. It must have been absolutely humiliating for her, but if she had just waited a few days, it wouldn't have seemed so bad.

I wonder what support and counseling the hospital provided her following the fallout.

 

[ksinger]

They encouraged her - by impersonating someone that a normal Brit is likely socially conditioned to to NOT contradict or say NO to - to commit a career-ending offense and break the law, and then they exacerbated the first outrage by broadcasting the outcome. Are they responsible for her suicide? In some ways, yes. When you do horrible, mean things to people, you don't know what they are going through in their lives. Your act could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We get up in arms when bullies drive kids to suicide, why the pass for these yayhoos just because the person they were being mean to was an adult? At the very least, they should be fired. But I suspect their loyal following - for whom they were doing the prank - will give endless excuses why what they did is totally OK. Since no law was broken BY them, they'll probably be popular again in 6 months.

Until we as a culture - and apparently it's rampant in Australia and Britain too, quit devouring endless shows about people causing other people's humiliation, we're going to see this happen over and over.

 

[mayerling]

While I'm not a fan of prank calls, I do think this was blown out of proportion. Suspended maybe, but fired seems like a bit too much. I also don't blame them for the nurse's suicide. It's tragic that she died, but I don't think it's their fault. I also find it a bit strange that she killed herself over this...

 

[Aoife]

They encouraged her - by impersonating someone that a normal Brit is likely socially conditioned to to NOT contradict or say NO to - to commit a career-ending offense and break the law, and then they exacerbated the first outrage by broadcasting the outcome. Are they responsible for her suicide? In some ways, yes. When you do horrible, mean things to people, you don't know what they are going through in their lives. Your act could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We get up in arms when bullies drive kids to suicide, why the pass for these yayhoos just because the person they were being mean to was an adult? At the very least, they should be fired. But I suspect their loyal following - for whom they were doing the prank - will give endless excuses why what they did is totally OK. Since no law was broken BY them, they'll probably be popular again in 6 months.

Until we as a culture - and apparently it's rampant in Australia and Britain too, quit devouring endless shows about people causing other people's humiliation, we're going to see this happen over and over.

This.

While the DJ's may not have any legal responsibility, they certainly bear moral responsibility. What on earth were they thinking? It's one thing to call someone and ask if their refrigerator is running, or do they have Prince Albert in a can, etc, and another to contact a hospital--you know, where sick people go--and try to get personal details about someone's illness. Which they then broadcast. The individuals on the other end of the prank call are being treated as though their sole reason for existence is to be the butt of someone else's poorly thought out joke, with no right to privacy, consideration, or dignity. And then we wonder why school bullying gets out of hand so quickly. It's all part and parcel of the same thing.

 

[AmeliaG]

Where is pandora when you need her? I wouldn't have thought the Queen would telephone the hospital directly so a voice sounding like the Queen would have sent my scam radar up.

 

[TooPatient]

They encouraged her - by impersonating someone that a normal Brit is likely socially conditioned to to NOT contradict or say NO to - to commit a career-ending offense and break the law, and then they exacerbated the first outrage by broadcasting the outcome. Are they responsible for her suicide? In some ways, yes. When you do horrible, mean things to people, you don't know what they are going through in their lives. Your act could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We get up in arms when bullies drive kids to suicide, why the pass for these yayhoos just because the person they were being mean to was an adult? At the very least, they should be fired. But I suspect their loyal following - for whom they were doing the prank - will give endless excuses why what they did is totally OK. Since no law was broken BY them, they'll probably be popular again in 6 months.

Until we as a culture - and apparently it's rampant in Australia and Britain too, quit devouring endless shows about people causing other people's humiliation, we're going to see this happen over and over.

This.

While the DJ's may not have any legal responsibility, they certainly bear moral responsibility. What on earth were they thinking? It's one thing to call someone and ask if their refrigerator is running, or do they have Prince Albert in a can, etc, and another to contact a hospital--you know, where sick people go--and try to get personal details about someone's illness. Which they then broadcast. The individuals on the other end of the prank call are being treated as though their sole reason for existence is to be the butt of someone else's poorly thought out joke, with no right to privacy, consideration, or dignity. And then we wonder why school bullying gets out of hand so quickly. It's all part and parcel of the same thing.

I agree with ksinger and Aoife.

"Jokes" have gotten way out of hand and those who think of them as "funny" need to consider the feelings and consequences to those on the other end.

 

[Missy]

They encouraged her - by impersonating someone that a normal Brit is likely socially conditioned to to NOT contradict or say NO to - to commit a career-ending offense and break the law, and then they exacerbated the first outrage by broadcasting the outcome. Are they responsible for her suicide? In some ways, yes. When you do horrible, mean things to people, you don't know what they are going through in their lives. Your act could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We get up in arms when bullies drive kids to suicide, why the pass for these yayhoos just because the person they were being mean to was an adult? At the very least, they should be fired. But I suspect their loyal following - for whom they were doing the prank - will give endless excuses why what they did is totally OK. Since no law was broken BY them, they'll probably be popular again in 6 months.

Until we as a culture - and apparently it's rampant in Australia and Britain too, quit devouring endless shows about people causing other people's humiliation, we're going to see this happen over and over.

This.

While the DJ's may not have any legal responsibility, they certainly bear moral responsibility. What on earth were they thinking? It's one thing to call someone and ask if their refrigerator is running, or do they have Prince Albert in a can, etc, and another to contact a hospital--you know, where sick people go--and try to get personal details about someone's illness. Which they then broadcast. The individuals on the other end of the prank call are being treated as though their sole reason for existence is to be the butt of someone else's poorly thought out joke, with no right to privacy, consideration, or dignity. And then we wonder why school bullying gets out of hand so quickly. It's all part and parcel of the same thing.

I agree. It's a real tragedy that our culture (by their viewing/advertising dollars) supports this type of behavior. Ethically what they did was wrong. Legally however is another matter but at the very least the owners of the radio station broke some (however minor they might be considered) laws. I feel for all those involved but mainly for the family of that poor nurse. And while I know the DJ's did not do this with that outcome in mind it was a malicious prank and they had to know it would distress that poor woman. Who wouldn't be upset to be at the end of that horrible prank. I agree with Laurie in that most of us have all experienced events where perhaps for a while we were mortified and wanted to die and who knows what mental state at the time such an event occurred might have pushed us over the edge whereas at another time in our life we would have pushed through. Nonetheless, it was a mean prank and should not have happened. Poor judgement all around.

 

[Sha]

I don't blame the DJ's, really. They didn't mean for it to go as far as it did....sounds like they didn't even expect to be put through, and once that happened, they just went with it. That said...perhaps they should have thought about what would've happened if had the call was forwarded, and all the attendant ramifications. I mean..it's entirely possible that the call could've been forwarded. How does a telephone operator screen for impersonators of the Royal Family? Do you check the numbers...do you ask them questions to make sure they are who they say are? But if it is the Royal Family, then you might risk offending them? Sounds like a proper telephone protocol wasn't in place, and the Hospital just gave the callers the benefit of the doubt, and I can completely see that happening.

That said, I think it was a bit extreme for her to kill herself, especially having a family at home. Most people would've been embarrassed and humiliated - but hopefully would've been able to get through it, especially with support around them. I think there must be something else going on with her (other stresses, lack of coping skills/support, particular personality traits?) to make her end her life over something like this. If that was the case, I don't think the DJ's are completely responsible, because in the average case one wouldn't expect an outcome like this. I think that even though people are experiencing stresses they are still somewhat responsible for their reaction the those stresses. and her reaction seems a bit extreme, IMO.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Too funny!

 

[amc80]

While I'm not a fan of prank calls, I do think this was blown out of proportion. Suspended maybe, but fired seems like a bit too much. I also don't blame them for the nurse's suicide. It's tragic that she died, but I don't think it's their fault. I also find it a bit strange that she killed herself over this...

This. It's not the DJ's fault. Suicide is not a normal response to what happened to her, and there's no way the DJs could have predicted the outcome.

For all of you saying they shouldn't have aired it- then what would have been the point of the prank? DJs do skits to air, that's their job.

 

[miraclesrule]

I watched an interview of the DJ's this morning. I was struck by two things. First, the sheer emotional pain that they very obviously feel for the tragic outcome of the call. Second, they never felt the need to ask the family of the public for forgiveness. I don't know why I assumed that they would. Perhaps it was the apparent feelings of guilt that their actions in some way were the proximate cause of her humilation and subsequent suicide.

They don't want to go back on the air at all right now. Their thoughts are with the family and friends of the nurse and they are dealing with their own despair.

I know that DJ's do this sort of thing all the time, but when the joke is on someone else, it really does have a bully type undertone.

Don't even get me started on the legal and production team that thought it was perfectly okay to invade the medical privacy of a private citizen and broadcast the information internationally. In America, they would be sued for a blatent violation of HIPPA laws.

In any case, it is a tragedy for the nurse, her family, her colleagues, for Kate.....just a really bad senseless tragedy.

 

[aviastar]

I don't blame the DJ's, really. They didn't mean for it to go as far as it did....sounds like they didn't even expect to be put through, and once that happened, they just went with it. That said...perhaps they should have thought about what would've happened if had the call was forwarded, and all the attendant ramifications. I mean..it's entirely possible that the call could've been forwarded. How does a telephone operator screen for impersonators of the Royal Family? Do you check the numbers...do you ask them questions to make sure they are who they say are? But if it is the Royal Family, then you might risk offending them? Sounds like a proper telephone protocol wasn't in place, and the Hospital just gave the callers the benefit of the doubt, and I can completely see that happening.

That said, I think it was a bit extreme for her to kill herself, especially having a family at home. Most people would've been embarrassed and humiliated - but hopefully would've been able to get through it, especially with support around them. I think there must be something else going on with her (other stresses, lack of coping skills/support, particular personality traits?) to make her end her life over something like this. If that was the case, I don't think the DJ's are completely responsible, because in the average case one wouldn't expect an outcome like this. I think that even though people are experiencing stresses they are still somewhat responsible for their reaction the those stresses. and her reaction seems a bit extreme, IMO.

As for telephone protocol- of course it will vary, hospital to hospital, and certainly country to country- but I worked as a secretary in an ICU here in the states. We have STRICT privacy laws and as the person who answered all the calls to the unit, I was the first person people asking for information spoke to. I was well versed on the HIPPA Laws and also the unit and hospitals policies and I often turned down people's requests for information; people think they have an amazing right to other people's information (and they are just nosey). I got calls from neighbors, church members, friends, distant cousins, and yes, occasionally, media; I even had calls from police that we refused information to- they have to come in and identify themselves or we can't talk to them. We had a system that we set up where two people were designated by name and password to call and ask for information. If you didn't have that- I didn't pass on your phone call. I got yelled at, called names- didn't matter, it was the law. I would have been fired for passing on that phone call to a nurse.

And I do agree- those DJ's are asshats, but I think the truly miserable bad judgement was in airing the call once it was made.

 

[HollyS]

The DJs were doing what DJs do. Does that make this kind of tom-foolery okay? Not really. If you make someone the butt of your jokes (which they did to the nurse who spoke to them), then that someone is going to come off looking foolish and be the butt of everyone else's jokes . . . for days, weeks, and months to come. This is common DJ schtick, but I've never agreed that it should be done. It's cruel, even if unintentionally so. The station should never have allowed this kind of activity, ever.

As for the nurses, I don't know what to say. How stupid can you be?

But, that is exactly why this tragedy has happened. Stupidity has reigned.

Shame was more important, and had a bigger impact on one woman's life, than her own family. Seriously? Quit your job, change your name, move away, or just simply keep your head down until the public spotlight goes away. But suicide? Who does that?

Perhaps we don't know just how much this woman's own family was also ridiculing her . . . If she couldn't get support from those closest to her, maybe that would explain the futility that led to her suicide.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Suicide is not a normal reaction to any life event, and certainly not to this event. To blame the DJs minimizes the complex reality of suicide and mental health issues. And I think it is just as bad for society to point the finger at a couple of comedians for "causing" a woman's death as it is for society to laugh at the prank in the first place, if not worse.

 

[Maisie]

Too funny!

Whats funny?

 

[ksinger]

I watched an interview of the DJ's this morning. I was struck by two things. First, the sheer emotional pain that they very obviously feel for the tragic outcome of the call. Second, they never felt the need to ask the family of the public for forgiveness. I don't know why I assumed that they would. Perhaps it was the apparent feelings of guilt that their actions in some way were the proximate cause of her humilation and subsequent suicide.

They don't want to go back on the air at all right now. Their thoughts are with the family and friends of the nurse and they are dealing with their own despair.

I know that DJ's do this sort of thing all the time, but when the joke is on someone else, it really does have a bully type undertone.

Don't even get me started on the legal and production team that thought it was perfectly okay to invade the medical privacy of a private citizen and broadcast the information internationally. In America, they would be sued for a blatent violation of HIPPA laws.

In any case, it is a tragedy for the nurse, her family, her colleagues, for Kate.....just a really bad senseless tragedy.

IMO, way too little, way too late. They knew they were intentionally risking inflicting humiliation on the woman (as many have pointed out, public humiliation is the point of such pranks) - they ARE human after all. Or they look to be. They deserve to feel every drop of shame they are feeling right now. I am in fact, a bit doubtful that they feel it to the degree they are supposedly displaying it: people who are capable of deeply feeling shame are generally not eager to inflict it on others. It could simply be expedient to act that way in order to avoid the worst of the outcry for their heads.

We have entire national campaigns against bullying - even the mental kind that inflicts no visible damage - yet we think that something like this prank - designed to inflict shame and humiliation, is OK. Anyone with an IQ over 40 should be able to extrapolate that if that prank succeeded, it could easily result in the woman losing her job (a classic reason for suicide). I'd wager a goodly sum she was frantic at the thought. I would be, I would not be suicidal, but I'd be pretty distraught, and I'm actually quite tough. Quite frankly I don't see the difference between bullying and this kind of "all in good fun" cruelty. Mental anguish is mental anguish, and adults inflicting it have even less excuse than the young. Some people are more fragile than others and you have NO idea what has gone before or what is going on currently with someone. So now I guess we'll parse the degree of cruelty - was it just enough? Too much? Just right?

It's still cruelty.

 

[Aoife]

I watched an interview of the DJ's this morning. I was struck by two things. First, the sheer emotional pain that they very obviously feel for the tragic outcome of the call. Second, they never felt the need to ask the family of the public for forgiveness. I don't know why I assumed that they would. Perhaps it was the apparent feelings of guilt that their actions in some way were the proximate cause of her humilation and subsequent suicide.

They don't want to go back on the air at all right now. Their thoughts are with the family and friends of the nurse and they are dealing with their own despair.

I know that DJ's do this sort of thing all the time, but when the joke is on someone else, it really does have a bully type undertone.

Don't even get me started on the legal and production team that thought it was perfectly okay to invade the medical privacy of a private citizen and broadcast the information internationally. In America, they would be sued for a blatent violation of HIPPA laws.

In any case, it is a tragedy for the nurse, her family, her colleagues, for Kate.....just a really bad senseless tragedy.

IMO, way too little, way too late. They knew they were intentionally risking inflicting humiliation on the woman (as many have pointed out, public humiliation is the point of such pranks) - they ARE human after all. Or they look to be. They deserve to feel every drop of shame they are feeling right now. I am in fact, a bit doubtful that they feel it to the degree they are supposedly displaying it: people who are capable of deeply feeling shame are generally not eager to inflict it on others. It could simply be expedient to act that way in order to avoid the worst of the outcry for their heads.

We have entire national campaigns against bullying - even the mental kind that inflicts no visible damage - yet we think that something like this prank - designed to inflict shame and humiliation, is OK. Anyone with an IQ over 40 should be able to extrapolate that if that prank succeeded, it could easily result in the woman losing her job (a classic reason for suicide). I'd wager a goodly sum she was frantic at the thought. I would be, I would not be suicidal, but I'd be pretty distraught, and I'm actually quite tough. Quite frankly I don't see the difference between bullying and this kind of "all in good fun" cruelty. Mental anguish is mental anguish, and adults inflicting it have even less excuse than the young. Some people are more fragile than others and you have NO idea what has gone before or what is going on currently with someone. So now I guess we'll parse the degree of cruelty - was it just enough? Too much? Just right?

It's still cruelty.

Again: yes, exactly. I'm really troubled by the responses from PS posters--who I know from their posts on other subjects to be compassionate individuals--that suicide is such an extreme reaction, as though that somehow shifts the blame for this cruel prank onto the nurse. And as though there exists somewhere a list of events would make suicide understandable/acceptable/predictable. And there isn't.

 

[amc80]

I watched an interview of the DJ's this morning. I was struck by two things. First, the sheer emotional pain that they very obviously feel for the tragic outcome of the call. Second, they never felt the need to ask the family of the public for forgiveness. I don't know why I assumed that they would. Perhaps it was the apparent feelings of guilt that their actions in some way were the proximate cause of her humilation and subsequent suicide.

They don't want to go back on the air at all right now. Their thoughts are with the family and friends of the nurse and they are dealing with their own despair.

I know that DJ's do this sort of thing all the time, but when the joke is on someone else, it really does have a bully type undertone.

Don't even get me started on the legal and production team that thought it was perfectly okay to invade the medical privacy of a private citizen and broadcast the information internationally. In America, they would be sued for a blatent violation of HIPPA laws.

In any case, it is a tragedy for the nurse, her family, her colleagues, for Kate.....just a really bad senseless tragedy.

IMO, way too little, way too late. They knew they were intentionally risking inflicting humiliation on the woman (as many have pointed out, public humiliation is the point of such pranks) - they ARE human after all. Or they look to be. They deserve to feel every drop of shame they are feeling right now. I am in fact, a bit doubtful that they feel it to the degree they are supposedly displaying it: people who are capable of deeply feeling shame are generally not eager to inflict it on others. It could simply be expedient to act that way in order to avoid the worst of the outcry for their heads.

We have entire national campaigns against bullying - even the mental kind that inflicts no visible damage - yet we think that something like this prank - designed to inflict shame and humiliation, is OK. Anyone with an IQ over 40 should be able to extrapolate that if that prank succeeded, it could easily result in the woman losing her job (a classic reason for suicide). I'd wager a goodly sum she was frantic at the thought. I would be, I would not be suicidal, but I'd be pretty distraught, and I'm actually quite tough. Quite frankly I don't see the difference between bullying and this kind of "all in good fun" cruelty. Mental anguish is mental anguish, and adults inflicting it have even less excuse than the young. Some people are more fragile than others and you have NO idea what has gone before or what is going on currently with someone. So now I guess we'll parse the degree of cruelty - was it just enough? Too much? Just right?

It's still cruelty.

Again: yes, exactly. I'm really troubled by the responses from PS posters--who I know from their posts on other subjects to be compassionate individuals--that suicide is such an extreme reaction, as though that somehow shifts the blame for this cruel prank onto the nurse. And as though there exists somewhere a list of events would make suicide understandable/acceptable/predictable. And there isn't.

It's a prank! Pranks are supposed to be funny. And this one would have been funny had the nurse not killed herself. I'm still confused as to why she did it- she didn't do anything wrong. She transferred the call to another nurse. That's it. Right? If investors call me and I transferred the call to a coworker, and the coworker gave out top secret information, it wouldn't be my fault. I might feel badly that I didn't screen the call better, but that's about it. Why this nurse took all the blame upon herself is beyond me.

I'm also still confused by the posters on here say the phone call shouldn't have been aired. Why not? Unless they aired it after she killed herself...that, I could understand. But, like I said earlier, pranks like this are common on air skits. Why would they do this and then not air it?

 

[Sha]

I don't blame the DJ's, really. They didn't mean for it to go as far as it did....sounds like they didn't even expect to be put through, and once that happened, they just went with it. That said...perhaps they should have thought about what would've happened if had the call was forwarded, and all the attendant ramifications. I mean..it's entirely possible that the call could've been forwarded. How does a telephone operator screen for impersonators of the Royal Family? Do you check the numbers...do you ask them questions to make sure they are who they say are? But if it is the Royal Family, then you might risk offending them? Sounds like a proper telephone protocol wasn't in place, and the Hospital just gave the callers the benefit of the doubt, and I can completely see that happening.

That said, I think it was a bit extreme for her to kill herself, especially having a family at home. Most people would've been embarrassed and humiliated - but hopefully would've been able to get through it, especially with support around them. I think there must be something else going on with her (other stresses, lack of coping skills/support, particular personality traits?) to make her end her life over something like this. If that was the case, I don't think the DJ's are completely responsible, because in the average case one wouldn't expect an outcome like this. I think that even though people are experiencing stresses they are still somewhat responsible for their reaction the those stresses. and her reaction seems a bit extreme, IMO.

As for telephone protocol- of course it will vary, hospital to hospital, and certainly country to country- but I worked as a secretary in an ICU here in the states. We have STRICT privacy laws and as the person who answered all the calls to the unit, I was the first person people asking for information spoke to. I was well versed on the HIPPA Laws and also the unit and hospitals policies and I often turned down people's requests for information; people think they have an amazing right to other people's information (and they are just nosey). I got calls from neighbors, church members, friends, distant cousins, and yes, occasionally, media; I even had calls from police that we refused information to- they have to come in and identify themselves or we can't talk to them. We had a system that we set up where two people were designated by name and password to call and ask for information. If you didn't have that- I didn't pass on your phone call. I got yelled at, called names- didn't matter, it was the law. I would have been fired for passing on that phone call to a nurse.

And I do agree- those DJ's are asshats, but I think the truly miserable bad judgement was in airing the call once it was made.

Thanks for this info. Interesting!

 

[AmeliaG]

It's a prank! Pranks are supposed to be funny. And this one would have been funny had the nurse not killed herself.

Even if she hadn't killed herself, I wouldn't have thought that duping and making fun of an innocent member of the public would classify as 'fun'. But then, I've never seen pranks as innocent fun; they always have a touch of meanness to them.

I agree though, I don't know why she killed herself and more importantly. I don't know why she divulged private information like that. Whoever heard of the queen calling the hospital herself. Doesn't she have flunkeys for that?

 

[Alexiszoe]

Suicide is not a normal reaction to any life event, and certainly not to this event. To blame the DJs minimizes the complex reality of suicide and mental health issues. And I think it is just as bad for society to point the finger at a couple of comedians for "causing" a woman's death as it is for society to laugh at the prank in the first place, if not worse.

+1. I have been thinking about how the news is portrayed by the media and all of it seems to insinuate that the prank call was the cause of her death, which, as Dreamer pointed out, seems out of place since suicide is a complex issue. I was wondering if she already had some medical issues such that the prank might have been the straw that broke the camel's back, or it was just a sad matter of coincidence.Either way, it is a tragedy.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I consider pranks like this equal to bullying. The goal is to make a fool of someone in order to get a laugh. There have been other cases of cyber-bullying that have resulted in deaths in the US, and I believe there has been legal action against the bullies.

Regarding the suicide, I think public humiliation in some cultures is far different than what some of us understand. I don't know that to be the case here, but I suspect it is at least a possibility.

So shame on the bullies. They should feel bad. And I agree with Dreamer that those who laugh at pranks that attempt to make someone look like a fool is just as bad.

(I omit politicians from this because they are public figures and that comes with the territory.)

 

[lyra]

I consider pranks like this equal to bullying. The goal is to make a fool of someone in order to get a laugh. There have been other cases of cyber-bullying that have resulted in deaths in the US, and I believe there has been legal action against the bullies.

Regarding the suicide, I think public humiliation in some cultures is far different than what some of us understand. I don't know that to be the case here, but I suspect it is at least a possibility.

So shame on the bullies. They should feel bad. And I agree with Dreamer that those who laugh at pranks that attempt to make someone look like a fool is just as bad.

(I omit politicians from this because they are public figures and that comes with the territory.)

I agree with this.

I do think the radio station is morally to blame in part. I also agree that they had to know that if the prank succeeded at all, that the pranked person might lose their job or face persecution from their employer. We don't know if the nurse was threatened with losing her job, or was reprimanded harshly, or what her mental state was like prior to the scandal. It also bears noting that the radio station elected to replay this "prank" on air in full, repeatedly, even AFTER the woman committed suicide. That was in extremely poor taste.

Very sad situation and a terrible thing for Catherine and William to have to contend with at this time.