Phone Prank Causes a Nurse to Commit Suicide

[Beckpatton]

Here's what I think..

- The nurse who took her own life was the one who transferred the call, she didn't give out ANY info, and she directed the call to the nurses station, not Kate's room.. She did nothing wrong here, and while I'm sure she was somewhat embarassed to be involved at all, was it really enough to send her over the edge? Push her over the edge when she's already dealing with whatever unknown issues (such as living apart from her family for work), sure, but not send her over.. In saying that, no one knows what was going through her head except her..

- The prank was lame, no matter which way you look at it, but in saying that, they never expected to actually get through to anyone... Has anyone here actually heard the call? "Yes hello this is the Queen here, calling to ask about my grand daughter Kate and her little tummy bug" With 'Prince Charles' running around in the background yelling "MummyI did this, Mummy I did that" and the station staff barking like corgies... I'm sorry I don't care what time of day it was, if you fall for that you are the epitome of gullible.. As if the Queen would call the hospital herself and speak to a commoner.. if anything she'd call Kate on her mobile phone and avoid the staff entirely.. Or at least have a staff member call on her behalf and then hand her the phone when Kate gets on.

- Prank or not, Royal or not, the nurse who did give out the info (none of which was major but that's beside the point) made a HUGE boo boo.. you don't discuss a patients condition over the phone with any Tom, Dick or Elizabeth who calls.

- It was the decision of management to air the prank, not the DJ's.. to them it was just another day on the job, for management a publicity goldmine (all pubicity is good pubicity right?).. If anyone is to blame, make sure you include them on the hitlist too..

- There has been no complaint from the Royals themselves as far as I know, in fact Prince Charles was even joking about it before news of the suicide broke.. (He was asked a question by the paparazzi and his 'witty' reply was "How do you know I'm not a radio station?" *chuckle* )..

- If anything, this incident has highlighted an apparent weakness in Royal security, poor Kate has more than 7 months of this to go, you think this will be the last person trying to dig up info on her condition. The difference here being that THESE two DJ's weren't actually interested in getting info, unlike the paparazzi.. I can guarantee you this wont happen again. ( so there's one silver lining)..

- There is obviously a market for this kind of thing, radio stations aren't the only culprits.. Ever hear of Candid Camera or a little show called Punk'd? It might not be everyones taste, but obviously there are a lot of people who find this kind of thing entertaining.. There's no malice in it, sometimes they get it right, and sometimes like this, the idea is crap/lame.. Not because of what happened, but because it just wasn't a funny idea. No one could have foreseen this tragic event.

- The media in general played just as big a part in all of this as they are the ones who sent it global, they poked the hornets nest..

- Would anyone have cared if it was just another celebrity? As much as they'd like to think so, the Royals are NOT untouchable... This just proves that even more..

My point is, someone played a stupid joke, it wasn't funny, and it wasn't worth the attention it received. Now a life is lost, which may or may not have been caused by the media circus surrounding this event, and that is tragic, but it was unforseeable.. I don't think these pranks calls need to stop, but I do think (and as per the law) they need to get everyone's consent before airing them.. If publicity was all the station wanted, they could have revealed that they had the prank on tape, without ever playing it, and the hospital could have dealt with the employees as needed.. That would have been enough to create a bit of a news storm.. But no, management at Austereo wanted more, the press wanted more.. If anyone is responsible they are.

Oh and FYI- The show isn't cancelled it's temporarily suspended, the DJ's are not sacked, and the company that owns the station has come out and said that they are donating a large sum of money to the nurses family.. I think half a million dollars, not sure.. They've also banned pranks across their entire network, not just this station, but every station that they own. Not saying that clears them of anything, in fact the Australian Communications and Media Authority are launching their own investigation.

[jedimaster91]

The nurse who took her own life was the one who transferred the call, she didn't give out ANY info, and she directed the call to the nurses station, not Kate's room.. She did nothing wrong here, and while I'm sure she was somewhat embarassed to be involved at all, was it really enough to send her over the edge? Push her over the edge when she's already dealing with whatever unknown issues (such as living apart from her family for work), sure, but not send her over.. In saying that, no one knows what was going through her head except her..

I think this too. There had to have been something else going on. Undiagnosed depression or something. Yes, the situation was awful, but enough on its own for her to take her life? I doubt it.

[siead_lietrathua]

i heard about this on the station hubs listens to in the morning. and the jocks there, and a few nurses that called in to offer some input, made some valid points:

1) the original jocks thought the first person would hear their terrible parody of the queen (i've heard it. it was horrendous, very Mrs. Doubtfire) and get hung up on. they never expected it to get so far, and just rolled with it.

2) the nurse that transferred the call would have gotten reamed out by her bosses, and done far worse to her mental state, than the radio show would have. she confirmed the presence of a patient to a person over the phone, which i guess violated privacy? add in that there have been threats of murder against the royal family while they are traveling and that makes for a massive fuck up.

3) the nurse that got the transfer, who not only re-confirmed her presence but began giving info on the patients condition would have been double reamed out for violating patient privacy.


the nurse had to have other factors going on in her life that lead to her committing suicide, or she was very mentally fragile if this is what made her go from perfectly normal person to killing herself in less than 24 hours.
i mean really, what if it had been some 12-year-old dorks that did the prank, recorded it, and uploaded it to youtube? (they do it all the time with those arnold soundboards). would people still be screaming for blood?

[Gravekeeper]

It doesn't seem like her part in the whole fiasco was really that big. I'm of the opinion she was already on the verge due to other factors and this was just the last straw. Everyone is looking at what tripped her and made her fall over the edge, not what pushed her up to it to begin with.

Honestly, I don't blame the DJs, its what they do, they didn't expect to succeed in any way shape or form and they didn't decide to air it. There was a major failure on the part of the higher ups at both the radio station and the hospital, however. The radio station specifically, the shit should be rolling UPHILL to their management and legal dept. Not downhill onto the DJs.

[Nekojin]

Crank calling, especially publicized crank calling, is cruel and petty. The crank callers are taking advantage of the general good nature of most people in order to embarrass them.

That said, the idea of accusing these guys with some sort of murder-related crime over it is a massive overreaction, way out of proportion with what they actually DID. Ultimately, the blame (if you can call it that) for the suicide rests with the suicide-ee.

[fireheart17]

Oh and FYI- The show isn't cancelled it's temporarily suspended, the DJ's are not sacked, and the company that owns the station has come out and said that they are donating a large sum of money to the nurses family.. I think half a million dollars, not sure.. They've also banned pranks across their entire network, not just this station, but every station that they own. Not saying that clears them of anything, in fact the Australian Communications and Media Authority are launching their own investigation.

No more Gotcha calls?

As for the ACMA investigation, these are the same people who let Big Brother Uncut run for about 4-5 years before finally killing it off....(think Big Brother with the sex thrown in...at 9:30/10pm at night. One example from memory involved two housemates undercovers and the guy was showing the girl how to get him off! The show wasn't canned due to the "think of the children!" moments, more because there was an incident involving turkey slapping that was broadcast)

[HYHYBT]

The turkey wasn't at the beach, by any chance, was it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2AWKfMvDtw

(OK, yes, this is silly, and doesn't really have anything to do with the thread... but at least, unlike the "joke"that brought all this on, is actually funny.)

[SuperNat]

Turns out the nurse was already on anti-depressants due to previous suicide attempts.

http://www.news.com.au/world/radio-p...-1226542581126

I think to blame the DJs for her suicide is absolutely wrong. That's just my opinion.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't blame them for the nurse's suicide... but I still think that the prank was unfunny and should never have been authorised by the radio station. As I posted before, the radio station already got it in the neck for a prank so they ought to have learned from that.