Stupid Aussie prank?

[Horus]

Well it seems like that stupid prank by an Australian radio station making a hoax call to one of our hospitals enquiring about the condition of Princess Kate has claimed a victim. It appears that the nurse who took the call has taken her own life, a silly thing to do you may think, but who knows what may have gone through the mind of someone who from her name seems to have been a nurse from abroad. Many foreign nurses work within our health service and although they should be capable as nurses, some may not so easily realise when someone else is playing a prank.

If for example I worked in Oz and received a call from their Prime minister, with her accent I would struggle to know if it was really her speaking or Barry Humphries, so I would probably put her through. However I recon I could spot a Prince Charles or Queenie impersonator and give the appropriate response, so my point is it all depends who happens to take the call and in this case it has had a sad outcome. However, is making prank calls to hospitals really considered funny and a good prank to play? I don’t know about Australia, but our nurses have enough to cope with without having to deal with stupid radio show hosts.

[Grandad]

I hope that, at the very least, those two Aussie 'dickheads' show some public remorse for their stupid prank that has gone so horribly wrong. I feel desperately sorry for that poor nurse, a wife and mother of two children, who it would appear took her own life. I do so hope that the hospital had not come down hard on her and failed to realise that she would be badly affected with a feeling of guilt for the outcome of her innocent action.

[Kiya]

I think there must be more hidden worries the poor nurse had & this just tipped her over the edge, really very very sad .

[Scottishtourist]

If they allowed us nurses to do the job we are trained for and paid to do ,i.e.CARE for patients...then this scenario would not have arisen!
Far too much time is spent answering phones and it is a difficult one to call as to whether the person enquiring is genuine or not.
But..we're damned if we do and damned if we don't!
There may well have been other problems in this poor woman's life,but I think the whole prank was in extremely poor taste and could well have compounded any other domestic problems she may have had.
Maybe one day the "truth will out." For now,I really hope the pranksters are proud of themselves.It's tragic.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I'm aware this happened but only because I read the ticker line going across the bottom of the TV news that due to a prank re: KateM a nurse took her life. No other details so the most info I have is from the posts here.

I can say that in the USA if you are a patient IN hospital you are given a numeric code. Up to you to pass it on to spouses, siblings, friends etc as without that number NOBODY is going to talk to you. Won't even confirm or deny if you are IN the hospital. (Just a piece of trivia from the old US of A)

I know that Canada is much more open and I could pretty much call in about anybody and sooner or later I'd be able to reach somebody who would talk to me about them.

Whatever happened there seems quite tragic. I do hope that those perpetrating the joke are duly chastized and showing some public remorse definitely would be in order (and shouldn't have to be asked for or solicited).

[Winged Isis]

I assume the title of your post is not meaning to imply this is horrendous because they are Aussies, H. It is horrendous, full stop. The fact they are Aussies has nothing to do with the impact of their regrettable action. It could well have been UK celebrities (I'm sure you could think of some up for such a stunt) or some from any other country. And yes, our nurses have more than enough to deal with too, as do all nurses, police and teachers: overworked, under-supported by their own system, misunderstood by the public they serve and underpaid.

My first reaction was also that there must have been some other underlying problem with this poor woman's mental state to take such an extreme action, as apparently she had not been disciplined or castigated by the hospital. The hospital must take some responsibility for not having the correct protocol in such situations in place.

If you heard it, the celebrities themselves never expected to get any further than the initial receiver, and admitted how appalling was the accent used. I think this shock of being accepted froze them so they failed to drop the call right there. Not that I am making excuses for them, but then who could possibly imagine someone would commit suicide?

The woman's family, the royal couple and the celebrities have all had their lives overturned and blighted by this tragic outcome.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I think this all started as an innocent prank that went tragically awry for all involved.

I think the Royals are often the target(s) for jokes, pranks and all manner of stupidity for people who want to somehow draw on their fame, their celebrity, their status to meet their own needs beit a joke, prank, whatever. To my own thinking I think the Royals typically handle this type of 'event' very well, naturally rise above it and take it all in stride.

In my own experience people do not tend to take their lives as the result of one single incident. Research/stats show there is typically a number of life events or circumstances that leads one to take this final act. Now the rest of us might now KNOW all of these events but one cannot reasonably think that a phone call being put through to KateM from QE/pranksters was totally and completely causative for this Nurse taking her life. I do think her actions were the very tragic result of her own personal mental state and life circumstances. It is always tragic when anybody takes their life.

I think that part of the tragedy is that this women, obviously committed to helping others had many of her own issues and problems and she was able to sufficiently hide these from others such they did not feel she needed intervention, help or assistance.

I also think it very tragic that this woman, employed as a nurse hence obviously with some awareness of health/mental health issues did not seek treatment for herself. I do realize that depression can be a very insidious disease and renders the individual less and less able to act however there are requirements for professionals to self monitor and take action if they perceive themselves as being less than 100%.

Neither of these two considerations are being considered and while I find this incident tragic I also hope that the two 'stupid pranksters' are not solely blamed for the actions this Nurse took.

[Christine]

I dont for one minute think that this thread was aimed at Aussies at all, it was simply a title given so that we would know straight away what we would be reading about.
Anyone anywhere could have come up with the same idea.
I agree with all of the above, its very sad and a shocking outcome for all concerned .
The pranksters have been suspended it seems, and i actually feel for them as well, they must feel absolutely dreadful, i know i would .

[Horus]

I dont for one minute think that this thread was aimed at Aussies at all, it was simply a title given so that we would know straight away what we would be reading about

Exactly Christine, in this instance it was a stupid Aussie prank as it originated from Australia, so I make no apologies for saying that, had it originated from Spain no doubt the title would have read "Stupid Spanish Prank" so I fail to see the logic behind the comment.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I concur with Christine and actually appreciate the title so I know straight away what the thread is all about. I admit I'm one to often (ok almost always) throw out titles that give no clue to the thread however in this instance when the subject matter is delicate it IS best to state up front what it is.

It was an Aussie prank but - yeah - could well have been a Chinese, Spanish, Mexican you name it prank and the title is only reflective of where the prank came from. No more, no less.

[Grandad]

This prank was widely scorned when it became public knowledge. However, it was later viewed more lightly and even Charles joked about it when an interviewer tried to have a word during one of his engagements. He smiled and with a chuckle said "I might be from the radio".

Of course there is no suggestion that this sort of prank would only be played by young Aussies. Look at the furore here when Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand made that stupid phone call to Andrew Sachs. (And they were not that young)

I live in a small city where the temporary student population outnumbers the permanent residents. These young people, supposedly the elite of our educational system, show little regard for the residents and there property. They think it clever to lift the wiper blades of all cars parked along the street, sometimes breaking them; they bend car aerials just for mischief; and the worst practice is to run up the front of cars, over the roof and down the back.

You might gather that I do not have the highest impression of young people and those two young Australians were doing no more than young people around much of the world seem to do. There is a distinct lack of respect and certainly no thought for the possible consequences of their actions.

I should add that I do not tar all young people with the same brush but a generation that expects everything on a plate and thinks society 'owes them' should occasionally stop and think.

[Winged Isis]

I agree and appreciate your responses, but it also could have been called Stupid Prank Phone Call or DJ's Stupid Prank Call for example, and you could bet your socks it would be recognised and read. I'm not being too defensive here, just trying to be Devil's Advocate.

The call was a bit of fun that had a result that NO-ONE could have expected. As I said, who could believe they would have got that far and so easily? We (royals included) all expect the highest level of security around the royals.

I'll bet even the nurses' family would have been just as surprised at her reaction, unless they knew she was suffering from a level of depression and had maybe attempted suicide before. All will be revealed at the inquest no doubt.

Actually, I believe the real "mistake" was not to make the call, this sort of thing is done all the time by radio shows and the average Joe on the street; the mistake was the decision to air it to the world. It could have been stopped by management.

[Horus]

I am sorry to labour this one WI, but the title read:
Stupid Aussie Prank?
In other words it was asking a question, not making a statement.

Next it went on to say: “Well it seems like that stupid prank by an Australian radio station” etc.
So it is the prank that is being described as stupid with a reference to the fact that the radio station was an Australian one.

Now you may think that everyone would know what I was talking about by using “DJ's Stupid Prank Call” as an alternative heading, but you would be wrong. Many DJ’s make prank calls, there is an excellent one called ‘Ned’ on Youtube if you care to look and there have been some great ones on UK local radio and as people read these forums from all over the world many may not be that familiar with UK news.

You then go on to give me alternative titles I could have used, why so? Are Australians becoming so sensitive that we have to choose our words carefully so as not to offend someone’s mistaken sensibilities as in the case of Islam? I flatly refuse to pander to that particular religious whim, so I am not about to start submitting my posts for some sort of Aussie approval beforehand. As good old Forest Gump said “stupid is as stupid does” and that certainly applies in the case of these two Aussie presenters.

[Grandad]

I think this story is now going into the usual overkill. The hospital management has lodged a formal complaint with the broadcaster, fair enough. But now the Met have asked the NSW police for permission to interview the two presenters.

Why can't they just let it rest now. Those presenters did not cause the death of the nurse and according to some of todays papers, they are also on suicide watch. Hopefully the inquest will find new evidence as to why Jacintha took that extreme final step.

We have seen the hospital directors standing outside and assuring that no action was taken against the nurse...they would say that wouldn't they.

RIP Jacintha Saldanha....you did nothing wrong.

[Horus]

I agree Grandad, the act itself was no worse than a lot of other similar pranks that go wrong, the Royal Family have always been a target for attention usually from the media in one form or another so in that respect these two are no different. I doubt that they expected their prank to be anything other than that, you only need to watch any of todays youth type TV shows or listen to what passes as radio shows to realise the shallowness of the content. It is a shame for the nurses family that she took this action, although it does seem a bit extreme, but then again we live in a society that hides behind data protection and a simple enquiry regarding a friends health is usually met with "they had a comfortable night" because saying anything else would breach the Data Protection Act or patient confidentiality, so no doubt that had some impact upon her thought processes.

[Winged Isis]

Chill, H! Note I said "I assume the title of your post is not meaning to imply..." etc. I was not accusing you of anything, just wanting to make sure people didn't go off half cocked at them because they were Aussies, as had already happened elsewhere. You know how some forum users (not you) like to slag off other nations with generalisations and inaccuracies (Stupid is as stupid does for sure!)

The two presenters are now on suicide watch as they are shattered by this tragedy, as they try to escape the world. One nurse previously employed at the hospital tweeted the discipline and attitude was extreme, so she left. But maybe she gave them cause, who knows. It is only her word. If others support her, maybe the hospital could be found to have had some effect on the deceased's mental pain. We can only speculate, which I have decided to opt out of, and leave the authorities to follow due process and the parties involved to cope as best they can, Lord help and bless them all.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Something I don't understand and maybe it is cause I just haven't seen this on TV nor am I trying to ferret out each and every tidbit associated with this story - BUT :

Did this Nurse off herself IMMEDIATELY after this event?

Did she leave a NOTE or some other indication that she killed herself because of this prank?

Why has the association been made that this prank cause her to commit suicide?

[Grandad]

No point in speculating LLL, let us just let the inquest ask the questions....

[LovelyLadyLux]

@ Grandad - ahhhhh so NOBODY yet knows the answers to these questions? I wasn't sure if it was all common knowledge and just ME who didn't know this or if nobody knew cause I am wondering how the actual LINK between Nurse/Prank Call/Suicide was made???

[Christine]

I agree with Grandad here , we dont know the details , we may never know the details i think it needs to be left with the authorities to find the answers to this sad riddle .