UK - Nurse duped by prankster regarding royal, found dead.

[zippitydoda]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/10/world/europe/uk-royal-hospital-death/index.html

Australian radio network cancels show after nurse's death

......The two DJs "will not return to the airwaves until further notice," the statement from the network, Southern Cross Austereo, said. The company also suspended all prank calls, pulled advertising and ordered a comprehensive review of relevant policies and processes....

I think that this was the decent thing for the station to do. The two DJ's appear to be broken up about the outcome of their prank call. I don't think they are monsters, but perhaps what they are feeling and experiencing now is very near to what this poor nurse went through.

 

[jennapuppy]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-12-10-05-23-15

Police have not yet determined the cause of death, but many immediately assumed it was related to the stress from the call.


I am thinking it may end up being natural causes for some reason. jmo

Stress from the call may be a factor, but I have to wonder if she was experiencing other issues, as well. This incident was probably the tipping point.
IMO

 

[wfgodot]

Interesting stuff from Guardian's Mark Lawson; among other things, traces the rise of the media hoax:

Australian hoax DJs: where do you draw the line with on-air pranks?

 

[Elley Mae]

[video=youtube;7BC63B6WXdc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BC63B6WXdc[/video]

This is the call.

 

[animlzrule]

I've been mystified at the assertion of some that there must have been some other reason this nurse committed suicide. It seems ridiculous to presume one can estimate the threshold at which it is "reasonable" or "understandable" that an individual is pushed to their brink....

Death of Kate Middleton Nurse Shows How Humiliation Can Lead to Suicide:

With the recent focus on bullying sparked by suicides of young people who were hectored as outcasts, a new or newly articulated risk factor for suicide has gained currency: humiliation. Though certainly related to hopelessness and to real or threatened financial embarrassment, humiliation is its own very private experience, with its own equally private triggers. How and why certain events might brutally transgress honor and dignity in one person yet the same events barely touch the next, remains inscrutable.


Yet, as the suicides of Jacintha Saldanha and the recent spate of mostly young, mostly gay, always frightened men and women have shown us, the deeper we dig into the confusing world of human behavior, the less we seem to understand. All the more reason, then, to maintain basic human decency and respect in all exchanges, even—perhaps especially—those meant in jest.

more at link:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...hows-how-humiliation-can-lead-to-suicide.html

I question how much support she was really being offered by her employer as well. I'm guessing the hospital has been in hyper CYA mode since this phone call, and it was probably a matter of time before she lost her job, and she knew it. A hard lesson learned by 2 very sophomoric "adults". Hope they stay out of radio.

 

[jjenny]

Well we know the woman was 46 with no apparent history of unstable behavior.
So I also don't understand why people insist she had some major issues-I would think any major mental health issues would have surfaced by 46 years old.

 

[STEADFAST]

I thinks it's very unfair to blame this nurse's death on the two DJs who were just doing their jobs. That's what morning DJs do -- mess with people and joke around.

If that call in some way led to her embarrassment and then later to her suicide (which I doubt), it was caused by her not doing her job correctly. If she had done her job correctly, then they wouldn't have gotten through and she wouldn't have been embarrassed. I don't mean this isn't a sad story; it is, but I don't see it as the story of two DJs who drove a woman to suicide.

I think blaming the DJs (who lost their jobs over this) is much more aggressive bullying than the prank call was. Would anyone criticizing them be willing to take the blame if one or both killed themselves?

 

[FrayedKnot]

I certainly don't blame some prank phone call for the suicide of this woman, but if her sad death is in some way responsible for the cessation of these STUPID and (IMO) grating "punks" or "pranks" then at least one small good came from this. I hate "humiliation comedy". It just isn't funny.

For the record, I also think slapstick humor is equivalent to fingernails on a blackboard.

 

[jjenny]

First of all they recorded this conversation without this woman's knowledge/consent.
That in itself would be illegal at least in some states.
Then they broadcasted this conversation.
And they pretended to be somebody they are not.
So, sorry, if that is their job, then it's morally wrong/ potentially illegal.

 

[wfgodot]

Targeting a hospital for their little prank was extremely wrong-headed. Those who know and respect workers in the health care field realize that in the best of times resources can be stretched thin, that the task of saving lives and of getting people better can result in nerves worn thin through the tension of heroic effort. They don't need to put up with callous prank calls for the amusement of the few. Go prank the banks and boardrooms, and let the healers be.

 

[STEADFAST]

I certainly don't blame some prank phone call for the suicide of this woman, but if her sad death is in some way responsible for the cessation of these STUPID and (IMO) grating "punks" or "pranks" then at least one small good came from this. I hate "humiliation comedy". It just isn't funny.

For the record, I also think slapstick humor is equivalent to fingernails on a blackboard.

I don't think it would be a small good; I think it would be a huge EVIL if this incident results in even more censorship and suppression of free speech in the UK than they are already increasingly implementing. From my perspective, they are becoming an alarmingly intolerant society.

ETA Don't get the wrong impression that I think it was a good idea to prank that hospital, but the DJs didn't go to any extremes to scam anyone; they merely asked in a ridiculously fake voice if they could speak to their granddaughter Kate. If that pranked this hospital, the hospital should take almost all the blame.

 

[STEADFAST]

First of all they recorded this conversation without this woman's knowledge/consent.
That in itself would be illegal at least in some states.
Then they broadcasted this conversation.
And they pretended to be somebody they are not.
So, sorry, if that is their job, then it's morally wrong/ potentially illegal.

Live broadcasting this prank would have been completely illegal in the U.S. You aren't allowed to broadcast someone's voice without their consent. Here, they would have had to record the call and then have the nurses sign consent forms.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

Doesn't the woman that committed suicide carry the responsibility for taking such drastic action and leaving behind her own family members? She made the decision to react so tragically after all.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I thinks it's very unfair to blame this nurse's death on the two DJs who were just doing their jobs. That's what morning DJs do -- mess with people and joke around.

If that call in some way led to her embarrassment and then later to her suicide (which I doubt), it was caused by her not doing her job correctly. If she had done her job correctly, then they wouldn't have gotten through and she wouldn't have been embarrassed. I don't mean this isn't a sad story; it is, but I don't see it as the story of two DJs who drove a woman to suicide.

I think blaming the DJs (who lost their jobs over this) is much more aggressive bullying than the prank call was. Would anyone criticizing them be willing to take the blame if one or both killed themselves?

Great post!

ITA

 

[Mrs G Norris]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ing-offer-help-nurses-grieving-relatives.html I can feel a lawsuit coming on .. and Mr Keith Vaz, I don't believe you are helping.

 

[wfgodot]

Yes, blame the victim of the prank. That's helpful isn't it. Blame the parliamentary representative. In fine, blame anyone at all except those who chose to visit fresh hells on the heads of those attempting to do work at a hospital. Ingenious, really. Everything that happens to us is our own fault, whether or not we ever saw it coming, or invited it in.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Only 1 person can be blamed for the suicide. The nurse. Period.
She could have taken another route.

She's not to blame for the prank. But she is to blame for how she did her job and for killing herself.

No way those DJs are responsible for that.

JMO

 

[FrayedKnot]

I don't think it would be a small good; I think it would be a huge EVIL if this incident results in even more censorship and suppression of free speech in the UK than they are already increasingly implementing. From my perspective, they are becoming an alarmingly intolerant society.

ETA Don't get the wrong impression that I think it was a good idea to prank that hospital, but the DJs didn't go to any extremes to scam anyone; they merely asked in a ridiculously fake voice if they could speak to their granddaughter Kate. If that pranked this hospital, the hospital should take almost all the blame.

I merely meant that perhaps this type of "humor" would become passe and hopefully extinct.

I don't condone censorship, but certainly the distaste of the general public for such unfunny garbage would speak volumes. After all, every act needs an audience. For instance, we don't see alot of blackface "comedy" acts nowadays, either. I gotta say that is a good thing.

It is just that to me, this kind of "prank" is cringeworthy at best. And as ever, that is just MOO.

 

[FrayedKnot]

Doesn't the woman that committed suicide carry the responsibility for taking such drastic action and leaving behind her own family members? She made the decision to react so tragically after all.

IMO, she absolutely does bear responsibility for her own suicide.

Is there any more info on why she reacted so drastically? I mean, was she publically castigated or served with some type of lawsuit? Was she put on probation or fired by the hospital? Did Buckingham Palace send her a Nastygram?

There had to be a reason for which she thought taking her own life was necessary.

Again, I despise "humiliation humor" but I find it hard to believe it was the sole reason a woman killed herself.

 

[jjenny]

Live broadcasting this prank would have been completely illegal in the U.S. You aren't allowed to broadcast someone's voice without their consent. Here, they would have had to record the call and then have the nurses sign consent forms.

There are similar broadcasting laws in Australia. They are also supposed to get permission. The prank was not live either. They taped it, and supposedly got it approved by the station's lawyer before broadcasting it.