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Hospital nurse found dead after taking prank call on Catherine

Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

The DJ's have drawn criticism from Aussie Nursing unions as well as British.

"The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association said it has written to the general manager of 2Day FM, Jeremy Simpson, even before the death, explaining the "very serious professional consequences" if it had happened to a nurse in Australia."

BBC News - Kate hoax call: London hospital protests to radio network
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

Dragonfly said:
Hospital nurse found dead after prank call on Catherine - CNN.com



Really?

Should charges be pressed here?

What's the big deal? Is something like this "big" enough to kill yourself over?

What responsibility do the DJ's have?


DJ's from a completely different country by the way.
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I don't think we know the whole story and likely never will. In our modern world, we have largely forgotten the bloody and treacherous history of the 'royals'. That nurse was from India, where caste is well understood by the current generation. Also, I have to wonder if she was somehow threatened by the 'royals.' It was just a few weeks after Diana stated in public that Charles isn't fit to be king that she died in an 'accident.'

I don't know how the courts in another country will go. But in the US suicide has yet to be held as a crime or a cause of action for a lawsuit against whomever 'pushed' the person over the edge.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

HonestJoe said:
I would have thought so. I gather that they misrepresented themselves to access an individual's personal medical information and proceeded to broadcast that information on the radio. If that doesn't encompass a criminal offence, it certainly should do. The jurisdictional issues could be a complication but that's really just a matter of whether the offences should be prosecuted in the UK or Australia.

I certainly believe that if they'd done the same thing to a random member of the public rather than "a celebrity", they'd be on remand already.

The nurse clearly made a mistake which would have had consequences to her job and career. Obviously suicide never makes sense but that doesn't stop people doing it.
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I wonder what an American nurse would do if she were convinced she had Barack Obama on the line?
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

nota bene said:
I listened to the lead-up to the prank call three days ago and forwarded it to friends because I couldn't believe anybody could fall for this or that the hospital didn't have protocols. The third person trying to bark like a dog really was very funny.

It wasn't known then that the receptionist was away from the switchboard and that a nurse had answered the silly call and transferred it. The hospital had not sanctioned this nurse nor threatened her employment, and I think there has to be much more to this suicide. Two kids left motherless and a husband left heartbroken just before Christmas simply because of embarrassment at transferring the call to a floor nurse?

I don't like prank calls either but also feel sorry for the DJs, who were amazed that their terrible accents worked.

Sad story, but I can't blame the DJs for this woman's suicide.
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The nurse was not a brit. That is likely why the accents worked. And the monarchy has far more power than most people want to believe. I don't think anyone convinced they had the queen on the line would feel free to refuse the call.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

nota bene said:
When our kids were younger, my best friend's and my family often vacationed together, and I was forced to listen to Roy D. Mercer. Everybody but me in that van would be howling with laughter while I sat there just hating, hating, hating him. (One reason, I've concluded, is because I know I'm the perfect gullible foil for somebody like him. :3oops: )

But I wouldn't have killed myself if one of my friends or coworkers set me up with a DJ like him. This nurse's suicide is tragic, but all she did was answer the phone and transfer the call. If she were 15, I can understand the "fate worse than death" perception, but this woman was 47 and had children to take care of.
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Different cultures deal with 'dishonor' in different ways. Most Americans wouldn't suicide over something like this. But some would. Some have. Remember the guy who was outed for being gay on a TV show who suicided?
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

TacticalEvilDan said:
I don't care what she thought was reasonable. She obviously wasn't the least bit reasonable or ratoinal. My use of the word refers to what would generally be considered reasonable.
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In your culture.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

Do you mean to tell me that Australian culture generally considers suicide a reasonable response in this situation?
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

The DJs were extremely remorseful. They cried as they resigned and took their own show off the air.

I think of some of the stupis **** I've posted here and would be devastated if someone took me seriously enough to harm themselves.

Truly gone wrong...
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

Radio people engage in comedy, which sometimes includes prank calls. Nobody usually kills themselves if they happen to be unwittingly part of an otherwise harmless joke. Blaming the DJs is in my humble opinion utterly ridiculous. They weren't inciting violence, glorifying drugs or contributing to the harm of minors.

If you really want my suspicion, she was probably already suffering from severe emotional instability/self-esteem issues. After she found herself in the middle of literally an international controversy involving the Royal Family of the country she immigrated to from India, the HOSPITAL administration was in the process of carrying out internal disciplinary action and it very well might have crossed the line into emotional abuse. Due to an existing emotional instability condition, she did not handle the hospital's response well. The unimaginable happened and now the hospital is blaming the DJs when they were very likely the ones making her life a living hell in response to her involvement in a highly embarrassing breach doctor-patient confidentiality. Just an educated guess.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

DiAnna said:
Yet another reason why I personally abhorr "pranks". The unforeseen consequences can never be predicted, and can often lead to unexpected harm, all for the sake of a cheap laugh at someone? Bah.
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OMG. Aside from this highly unusual tragedy, I love prank shows. Scare Tactics, Punk'd; those are my favorites. Even Betty White has a prank TV show where senior citizens pull stunts on younger people. I even found a prank calls channel on Pandora. People need to lighten up a laugh a little.

Don't tell me these didn't make you day:

Satan's Baby "Scare Tactics" Episodes - YouTube
Channeling the Dead "Scare Tactics" Episodes - YouTube


In no way do I intend to suggest the suicide in London wasn't absolutely tragic, but highly unusual. I'm of the opinion is was likely overbearing reaction by the hospital is what probably drove her to do the unthinkable, not the embarrassment of the prank call. Once a full investigation is complete and my suspicions are confirmed, I honestly wonder if people will also call for the hospital administration to be fired for employee emotional abuse.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

So what was the prank? They impersonated the royal family on the phone, and got put through to some other jackass royal? And when she found out it wasn't actually the Queen, but a commoner talking to royalty, she killed herself?

The only thing royalty is good for is the guillotine.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

MaggieD said:
Well, when they do a psychological autopsy on the nurse, they'll probably find out that he/she desperately needed his job and thought he'd lost it.

While the DJs were idiots, they broke no laws. Just a very unfortunate set of circumstances. HOWEVER, if I were their employers, I'd fire their asses immediately.
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How do you do a psychological autopsy? I don't think its possible. If the person is dead so is the brain. Or is this a joke?
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

wolfman24 said:
How do you do a psychological autopsy? I don't think its possible. If the person is dead so is the brain. Or is this a joke?
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Oh, I'm not sure what they call these. But it's a backwards look into the mind and motives of a dead person. Interviewing friends and family . . . looking at their work history . . . trying to determine what was going on with them personally at the time they killed themselves.

Oooo!! That is what it's called:

psychological autopsy

Psychiatry An autopsy that analyzes the cause(s) of death, examining the body and the circumstances–natural or unnatural that led to death; in the 'usual' death, a person suffers from a known set of morbid condition(s) and dies as a natural consequence of the terminal progression of those conditions; in 'unnatural' death–eg, homicide or suicide, determination of nosology is more difficult and requires analysis of circumstances preceding death; a PA focuses on the decedent's intentions relating to his own death, especially suicide

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

MaggieD said:
Oh, I'm not sure what they call these. But it's a backwards look into the mind and motives of a dead person. Interviewing friends and family . . . looking at their work history . . . trying to determine what was going on with them personally at the time they killed themselves.

Oooo!! That is what it's called:
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Ok never heard of it. I also heard it called a retrospective analysis (behavior). The word Autopsy has a certain definition to it. Needs some work I would say.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

Ikari said:
So what was the prank? They impersonated the royal family on the phone, and got put through to some other jackass royal? And when she found out it wasn't actually the Queen, but a commoner talking to royalty, she killed herself?
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Nope. If you really want to discuss the really issues involved here, you need to actually understand what it's about.

If you just want to sound like an idiot spouting hate and promoting murder though, you're spot on.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

Aunt Spiker said:
Suicide is not a reasonable reaction?

Of course not - suicide isn't reasonable . . . to others. To her - apparently her life was ruined enough and there was no way to fix it, only end it. To her it wasn't just reasonable - it was the only option.

Tragic.
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She was a nurse...and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be treated by her..because she obviously ''wasn't well''

They are to hold a mass for her in Westminster Cathedral..her family attended a mass for her in Bristol...which would lead me to believe she was a Christian...and therefore not subject to the cult of ''shame'' inflicted on some Asian women..

Her children are grown-up..and one of her sons appears to be mentally handicapped..

Thanks Mom!!!
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

I'm curious as to the nationality of the nurse. I am wondering if her suicide had more to do with "honor" than mental illness.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

ChrisL said:
I'm curious as to the nationality of the nurse. I am wondering if her suicide had more to do with "honor" than mental illness.
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She was Indian..but there were 3 suicide notes berating her treatment by other members of staff..even before this incident happened..
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

wolfie said:
She was Indian..but there were 3 suicide notes berating her treatment by other members of staff..even before this incident happened..
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So she was KNOWN to be suicidal?
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

ChrisL said:
So she was KNOWN to be suicidal?
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I don't think the hospital concerned will admit that..all I'm saying is that I think there was something more going on in her life than a prank call...
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

wolfie said:
I don't think the hospital concerned will admit that..all I'm saying is that I think there was something more going on in her life than a prank call...
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I agree with that.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

ChrisL said:
I agree with that.
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I remember a guy..whose wife had left him..he was suicidal..I spent hours on the phone listening to him...he would come round my house and talk and talk..I gave him the support he needed..

One day..I just didn't have the time at that moment to talk to him..(sick baby) and asked him to call back later..

There was no ''later''..he hung himself..

Is this then my fault?

I think not!!
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

wolfie said:
I remember a guy..whose wife had left him..he was suicidal..I spent hours on the phone listening to him...he would come round my house and talk and talk..I gave him the support he needed..

One day..I just didn't have the time at that moment to talk to him..(sick baby) and asked him to call back later..

There was no ''later''..he hung himself..

Is this then my fault?

I think not!!
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That's a really sad story but why would you ask if it is your fault? Of course it isn't. Did anyone say that it was?

I know that some people are chronically depressed, and medications and therapy do not help these people. Some of them learn to cope, and others end their lives. If someone gets it into their head that they are going to do this, I think there is very little anyone can do to prevent it.
 
Re: Radio DJ Prank leads to Suicide

ChrisL said:
That's a really sad story but why would you ask if it is your fault? Of course it isn't. Did anyone say that it was?

I know that some people are chronically depressed, and medications and therapy do not help these people. Some of them learn to cope, and others end their lives. If someone gets it into their head that they are going to do this, I think there is very little anyone can do to prevent it.
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I didn't ever think it was my fault..but you are right..if someone has decided to kill themselves there is very little anyone can do about it..
 
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