prank call Nurse Found dead after prank Call Hoax

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Ok, it's terrible the nurse died, but I'm not sure why people are blaming the DJs, considering this wasn't even the nurse they spoke to (She simply transferred the call).

The DJ's should be charged with impersonation and should be fired.

They were very bad impersonations.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I'm not saying the DJs in this situations weren't douches, radio DJs here in Aus are all pretty much childish *******s, but to kill yourself is a complete over-reaction.

The media shouldn't get too self-righteous in all this, though. Since the pregnancy was announced, the media has been a complete circus over this issue. "OMG is it twins? What will the names be? 8-1 odds it will be a natural birth vs. C-section! Look at the royal baby-bump! (one of my most hated of words). Blah blah blah. Their fanatical reaction isn't that much better than what these DJs did.

I agree that the media don't really have a right to pick on the DJs, since the UK media is currently being forced to set up a regulatory body because it doesn't respect the law.

I doubt that this incident alone was the cause of the suicide. It certainly wouldn't have helped matters, but pair it with something like depression or another mental illness and it's certainly plausible that someone would take their own life over something like this. Not that I'd have any experience in such matters.

lets clear some stuff up, because there is a huge amount of BS in this thread.

First off, she wasn't facing any disciplinary action, at all. The Royal Family even told hospital managment they didn't want her to face any repercussions. Second off, she didn't disclose any information about anyone. all she did was transfer the call to the ward where Kate Middleton was staying. Thats it, nothing more, nothing less.

Doctors and Nurses have some of the highest suicide rates out of any profession.

Yeah, she wasn't facing disciplinary action at the time, but as a former NHS employee I guarantee you that there'd have been an investigation, and she could have taken a lot of the blame. They take DP breaches very seriously, even when the patient doesn't make a formal complaint. I worked in an administrative area, and whenever I received a phone call asking for patient information, the standard response was "I'm afraid I can't give out patient information over the telephone, but I can provide you with the email address for our Freedom of Information officer if it's a FOI request". I'd presume that there'd be a similar procedure for handling patient enquiries over the phone in the clinical areas too.

Do I think she's to blame? Probably not as much as the person that actually gave the information, but she certainly shouldn't have put the call through, and we don't know what was said between deceased and the nurse that actually gave out the information.

Either way, the DJs should be taking the bulk of the heat here. I hope they never get back on the air. Despicable people abusing people to get ratings. There's consolation in the fact that it's likely the station will have it's broadcast license revoked (again).

[mokthraka]

Yeah, she wasn't facing disciplinary action at the time, but as a former NHS employee I guarantee you that there'd have been an investigation, and she could have taken a lot of the blame. They take DP breaches very seriously, even when the patient doesn't make a formal complaint. I worked in an administrative area, and whenever I received a phone call asking for patient information, the standard response was "I'm afraid I can't give out patient information over the telephone, but I can provide you with the email address for our Freedom of Information officer if it's a FOI request". I'd presume that there'd be a similar procedure for handling patient enquiries over the phone in the clinical areas too.

Do I think she's to blame? Probably not as much as the person that actually gave the information, but she certainly shouldn't have put the call through, and we don't know what was said between deceased and the nurse that actually gave out the information.

Either way, the DJs should be taking the bulk of the heat here. I hope they never get back on the air. Despicable people abusing people to get ratings. There's consolation in the fact that it's likely the station will have it's broadcast license revoked (again).

I dont know much about british law to be honest, but I imagine having the Royal Family say they don't want any disciplinary actions brought against them is a bit different than the average patient.

But like you said, this most likely wasn't the main cause of the suicuide.

[Guest seanseany]

Real classy radio station they work for .....

Australia radio station which staged pregnant Kate phone prank forced girl to confess to her mother she was raped when she was 12

The broadcaster was handed the first reprimand three years ago after a young teenager was pushed into revealing live on air that she had been raped as he(sic) mother listened.

and also insulting a fellow journalist live on air for daring to criticise him,

The journalist for New Limited made the complaint to the ACMA after she was verbally assaulted by the Breakfast DJ after she dared to to criticise his work.

He was reported as saying: ?What a fat bitter thing you are, you deputy editor of an online thing. You've got a nothing job anyway. You're a piece of s**t," he said.

?You?re a bulls**t artist, girl. That's what you are. You should be fired from your job."

?Yeah, and your blouse. You haven't got that much t***y to be wearing that low-cut a blouse. Watch your mouth, girl, or I will hunt you down.'

Link

Talking from personal experience , Its hard to lose someone you love at Christmas ( The rest of the years not so easy as well), These lot seem like scum bags to me.I know the media can stoop to low depths at times but these seem to do it so well. Not sure about charges being made , but sack them for sure and punish the radio station for it (Something for the Australians to do obviously).

[Chemaz]

Im in two minds about this, i mean yes its terrible news someone committed suicide and sympathy goes out to her family, but then again it aimed to be harmless joke that sadly unfortunately back fired, how were they supposed to know that she was close to the edge?

This wasnt the first prank call or will it be the last and it certainly wont be the last joke done. If you think the DJs should be taken to court etc, then maybe you should think about blanket ban on every joke out there, just in case someone takes it badly. Also maybe you should be having a go at the media for blowing the whole situation up when all the nurse did was forward the call, also maybe you should complain about the hospital not making protocols more clear before having a go at the DJs

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Im in two minds about this, i mean yes its terrible news someone committed suicide and sympathy goes out to her family, but then again it aimed to be harmless joke that sadly unfortunately back fired, how were they supposed to know that she was close to the edge?

This wasnt the first prank call or will it be the last and it certainly wont be the last joke done. If you think the DJs should be taken to court etc, then maybe you should think about blanket ban on every joke out there, just in case someone takes it badly. Also maybe you should be having a go at the media for blowing the whole situation up when all the nurse did was forward the call, also maybe you should complain about the hospital not making protocols more clear before having a go at the DJs

It wasn't a joke, it was abusing staff at a very busy hospital in an attempt to grab ratings. I've got no problem with crude radio shows or anything like that. Free speech is free speech, but when you're prank calling busy hospitals trying to obtain confidential patient information, that's crossing a line. Perhaps not legally (although probably), but certainly ethically.

I agree though that the DJ's aren't the only ones to blame here. The hospital certainly has some explaining to do.

[matt4pack]

I think that what people don't seem to understand is the lady that killed herself was not white. She looked to be Indian and probably wasn't accustomed to some aspects of western culture. Many Indians take their work very seriously and even a simple mistake like this can cause complete humiliation for them based on the pressure put on them by the culture they were raised in.

You can't just assume when you make a hoax call to a random person that they will take it as an innocent prank and laugh it off.

[peacemf]

its tragic.

like most people, there are two ways to see it.

it was NOT intended to cause the consequences it did. Yes it was a stupid joke, and they shouldnt have done it, but they did...

my heart goes out to the family.

the DJ's should be fired along with management for aproving the call to go on air. most likely the radio will close like the news of the world. this is not something that will be forgotten with time.

I cant imagine what the DJ's themselves are going through....

its a tragic story all round

[compl3x]

Another perspective:

Comedian Wil Anderson, a former presenter on Austereo's Triple M network, said he felt sorry for Christian and Greig.

"Firstly, I have sympathy for the nurse and her family because this is a terrible tragedy," he said. "But I also have a fair degree of sympathy for these kids.

"At an Austereo meeting, the number one thing is often, 'Which prank or 'gotcha' calls are we going to do today?'

"Personally, I hate prank calls and I didn't do them because I feel uncomfortable when everyone is laughing at one person ? and that person doesn't know why.

"In this case, the first alarm bell should have been calling a pregnant woman who was sick in hospital, with a chance she could have lost her baby. That's when the grown-ups in the room should have said, 'Do we want to go ahead with this?'."

Anderson said the presenters would never have expected their silly accents and claim to be royals would be believed by the hospital.

"I assume this didn't go live to air, so at some point, an adult should have said, 'We're not going to play this'," he said.

"These are kids who are trying to make a name in an industry where Kyle Sandilands [another Australian radio DJ, for our overseas readers] gets all the attention. It's a culture where you're told, 'Make some noise, be talked about, get in the papers'. You're not instructed to be talked about in a positive way; they just want you to be talked about.

"Is the culture of radio to blame? Possibly. But people make thousands of these prank calls each year and they usually result in good material. These kids have done something that I find distasteful but it's something that many other presenters have done without any negative consequences.

"It all comes back to, 'Who's the adult in the room?' After the surprise of actually getting through to the hospital, it's the job of the adults to decide whether it goes to air."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/pranks-common-so-how-did-one-call-go-so-wrong-20121208-2b28b.html#ixzz2EW6mLnog

[Noir Angel]

This is a tough one. On the one hand this prank was ill conceived and idiotic, but on the other committing suicide over a prank isn't an outcome anyone could really have predicted. Just another case of misconceived stupidity going wrong. The station that aired the prank should be taken off the air, but realistically all they're looking at is involuntary manslaughter.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I think that what people don't seem to understand is the lady that killed herself was not white. She looked to be Indian and probably wasn't accustomed to some aspects of western culture. Many Indians take their work very seriously and even a simple mistake like this can cause complete humiliation for them based on the pressure put on them by the culture they were raised in.

You can't just assume when you make a hoax call to a random person that they will take it as an innocent prank and laugh it off.

All she did was forward a call, the other nurse made the mistake of giving out information (And even then it was just "She's fine")