Britain - The Official Thread

[homeforsummer]

nothing they said would provoke a person to kill themself.

You're missing the point a little, I suspect.

Their words had nothing to do with it, per se.

The consequences of their actions did - they tricked someone into breaking patient confidentiality, which is almost certainly a firing offense, particularly with such an important, high-profile client.

There's also an element of trial by the media - "how could someone let this happen?".

The two factors combined could be pretty stressful. Losing your job and being ridiculed across the country for letting prank callers slip through the net? Pretty bad. And a great tragedy that she's apparently taken her own life for it.

 

[Liquid]

Check out the 2dayFM Facebook page. They're in real trouble, it's savage!

So I saw! They're getting some serious heat.

Nasty story. Not the sort of thing which fills you up with the spirit of humanity.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The hospital confirmed that she hadnt been punished, suspended or sacked..

 

[Liquid]

The hospital confirmed that she hadnt been punished, suspended or sacked..

But would she, following an internal inquiry, had she not killed herself?

 

[mattythedog]

But would she, following an internal inquiry, had she not killed herself?

I imagine she would've faced some disciplinary action, though probably very quietly.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

But would she, following an internal inquiry, had she not killed herself?

I would have thought so yeah..i dunno about the punishment but there definately would have been an inquiry...i think there could still be one..

 

[Maccer_42]

You're missing the point a little, I suspect.

Their words had nothing to do with it, per se.

The consequences of their actions did - they tricked someone into breaking patient confidentiality, which is almost certainly a firing offense, particularly with such an important, high-profile client.

There's also an element of trial by the media - "how could someone let this happen?".

The two factors combined could be pretty stressful. Losing your job and being ridiculed across the country for letting prank callers slip through the net? Pretty bad. And a great tragedy that she's apparently taken her own life for it.

I guess I am missing the point a little, well not missing it, I see why people are angry at the radio show but I just view it differently, I'm not going to feel any sympathy for this woman because she chose to comit suicide. (If it actually was suicide which I don't think as been confirmed yet, just suspected)

And I dont' see how it's the consequences of the radio shows actions that made this happen, it's the consequences of the nurses own actions that made this happen, the radio show just lucked out they happened to speak to a gulible and naive person. All this radio show really did was make a boring prank call which exposed just how easy it could have been for any pyschopath to get in touch with Kate, and possibly even find out which room/ward she was in, I'm sure if the radio host's asked what room they needed to visit the nurse would have told them.


I don't use facebook but judging from what axletramp posted,

Check out the 2dayFM Facebook page. They're in real trouble, it's savage!

I'm betting this radio show is getting all of the blame and hate for "causing" this womans suicide.

If anyone should be getting blame and hate for this it should be the hospital and the nurse who answered the phone, for potentionally risking the health and saftey of Kate. The hospital must have had some kind of procedure set up to deal with phone calls from members of the Royal Family which this nurse ignored, forgot about, or wasn't aware of. And if they didn't then that is shocking.

 

[Moglet]

So...everyone is jumping on the DJs calling them 'murderers' and other dramatic terms, when as far as I'm aware there is no actual evidence that the prank caused her suicide. Did she leave a note or something that I missed?

Has anyone stopped to think that she might have already been considering suicide and this is just a horrible coincidence?

 

[priesty_lfc]

Has anyone stopped to think that she might have already been considering suicide and this is just a horrible coincidence?

Yeah because when I leave my wife without her husband and my kids without a father I'm purposely going to do it over Xmas.

The DJs are partly to blame but imo so are the media. The story was overblown and because of it 'if' she was feeling down this probably pushed her over the edge.

 

[Danoff]

The radio prank was a great idea and very funny. There absolutely must have been something else leading up to the suicide. A well adjusted healthy person does not kill themselves from a little embarrassment. Especially given that this nurse was barely involved in the prank.

 

[axletramp]

I think there's another element to this as well. OK it was a prank, OK it was a terrible impersonation of the Queen, but they managed to obtain confidential information (however crap) by pretending to be someone else. The confidential information part (and the hospital's offering of it) is not illegal, but obtaining it via fraud is. They have broken the law. If you think I'm wrong then try and obtain confidential information (medical, financial, etc) by using a different identity and see how funny the police think it is. I can't think that's any different in Aus.

Just ignoring the suicide for a second, that's a sackable offence on its own at least.

 

[Lizard]

but imo so are the media. The story was overblown and because of it 'if' she was feeling down this probably pushed her over the edge.

There was even a study done on that.

Stan Cohen 1972 who writes about the media creating "Moral panics" and making the people who did the act talked about "Folk devils". Although this linked with interactionism suggests that being labeled as devient leads to more deviency which if she had not taken her life may have been the case as she was labeled and would likely not get any other good jobs.

There is a load more and some criticisms to that theory but I havent got time right now.

 

[Moglet]

Yeah because when I leave my wife without her husband and my kids without a father I'm purposely going to do it over Xmas.

Last Christmas a well respected, well known and generally happy guy in the village next to my old home town woke up in the middle of the night, left his wife and kids sleeping in their beds, drove to the nearest forest and hanged himself.

You can't always apply logic to someone with suicidal thoughts.

I think there's another element to this as well. OK it was a prank, OK it was a terrible impersonation of the Queen, but they managed to obtain confidential information (however crap) by pretending to be someone else. The confidential information part (and the hospital's offering of it) is not illegal, but obtaining it via fraud is. They have broken the law. If you think I'm wrong then try and obtain confidential information (medical, financial, etc) by using a different identity and see how funny the police think it is. I can't think that's any different in Aus.

Just ignoring the suicide for a second, that's a sackable offence on its own at least.

This is very true and well worth a quote. The radio station don't seem too concerned about it, but I'd like to think that the DJs in question will stand down anyway.

 

[Dennisch]

Sidetracking the current discussion, why was Kate in the hospital anyway?

I read acute morning sickness? Was it a severe case or something? Because I can't remember that both my sister and cousin, who both puked out their insides on a pretty decent scale, went to the hospital for that?

 

[Moglet]

Sidetracking the current discussion, why was Kate in the hospital anyway?

I read acute morning sickness? Was it a severe case or something? Because I can't remember that both my sister and cousin, who both puked out their insides on a pretty decent scale, went to the hospital for that?

She had something worse than just standard morning sickness that can really drain your body:

Doctors diagnosed her with hyperemesis gravidarum, an acute form of morning sickness.
She was put on a drip and spent three nights in hospital.

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a severe, debilitating nausea and vomiting in pregnancy that generally leads to more than 5 percent weight loss and may require fluid and nutritional supplement. It is different from the more common nausea and vomiting known as morning sickness. Dehydration, malnutrition, and other serious complications are the result of the "unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids."

Makes sense that she was on a drip to try and get some fluids back in to her system.

 

[Liquid]

I read acute morning sickness?

Yes.

Was it a severe case or something?

Apparently so.

Because I can't remember that both my sister and cousin, who both puked out their insides on a pretty decent scale, went to the hospital for that?

This is a future monarch we're talking about, it's poor inbred genes will be subjected to maximum attention. No expense spared here.

 

[Johnnypenso]

You're missing the point a little, I suspect.

Their words had nothing to do with it, per se.

The consequences of their actions did - they tricked someone into breaking patient confidentiality, which is almost certainly a firing offense, particularly with such an important, high-profile client.

There's also an element of trial by the media - "how could someone let this happen?".

The two factors combined could be pretty stressful. Losing your job and being ridiculed across the country for letting prank callers slip through the net? Pretty bad. And a great tragedy that she's apparently taken her own life for it.

I have great sympathy for the nurse and her family, but I don't think it's reasonable to assume that in and of itself, this caused the woman to commit suicide. That's too big of a leap for me. People commit suicide for reasons that most of us can't understand. They see the world differently than we do. To place any blame on the radio hosts I think is illogical.

I also disagree that they "tricked" her into anything. There are rules about patient confidentiality that nurses and doctors are supposed to follow. If you aren't known to them as someone close to the victim, you shouldn't give out the information, I don't care if it's the Queen or Prime Minister.

I think there's another element to this as well. OK it was a prank, OK it was a terrible impersonation of the Queen, but they managed to obtain confidential information (however crap) by pretending to be someone else. The confidential information part (and the hospital's offering of it) is not illegal, but obtaining it via fraud is. They have broken the law. If you think I'm wrong then try and obtain confidential information (medical, financial, etc) by using a different identity and see how funny the police think it is. I can't think that's any different in Aus.

Just ignoring the suicide for a second, that's a sackable offence on its own at least.

This I also agree with. Although I don't blame them for the nurse's suicide, if they did break any laws then they should be punished for that as should anyone who would get caught breaking this or any other law. Of course the usual mitigating circumstances would apply concerning things like their criminal record, their intent etc and likely they'd get off with a slap on the wrist.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

The Australian DJs who perpetrated the hoax will be facing very difficult times of their own I would imagine...

They work for 2Day FM, so they probably have a combined IQ of about 9. The station seems to pride itself on getting ratings through controversy.

 

[homeforsummer]

To clarify, because I'm not sure I made myself clear before:

I don't think the radio presenters caused what currently looks like a suicide.

I think that the situation the prank put the woman in might have contributed to it - it was a very high profile case of breaking confidentiality rules, and would almost certainly have cost her a job.

No doubt there were other contributing factors - if it *was* a suicide, she may have had personal issues anyway, and such an incident may have tipped her over the edge.

 

[RTSolvalou]

I'm disgusted to be from the same country as the two worthless pieces of crap that conducted the prank call, this suicide (which I did not know about till opening this thread just now) makes it worse of course, but even if it's not connected or fully attributable, should increase the punishment bestowed upon the pair.

Not only should they have hung up the phone after getting through, but they should not have proceeded with, recorded and finally broadcast the prank audio. Once again our lower class media have shamed Australia, these two imbeciles know nothing of responsibility, respect or common sense - they saw a free pass to try and 'up' their 'careers' at the expense of others and acted entirely in self interest and gain, I want to see them both charged to the full extent of what is possible under the law (which I fear is not much).

 

[Touring Mars]

The radio prank was a great idea and very funny. There absolutely must have been something else leading up to the suicide. A well adjusted healthy person does not kill themselves from a little embarrassment. Especially given that this nurse was barely involved in the prank.

It's posts like these that make me wonder why I browse this forum...

'A great idea' and 'very funny' are very strange ways of describing puerile tenth-rate comedy to me...

... and suggesting that an otherwise happy and productive human being should be immune to the extreme pressures forced upon them by this situation is frankly ridiculous, and quite appalling.

 

[Keef]

It's posts like these that make me wonder why I browse this forum...

'A great idea' and 'very funny' are very strange ways of describing puerile tenth-rate comedy to me...

... and suggesting that an otherwise happy and productive human being should be immune to the extreme pressures forced upon them by this situation is frankly ridiculous, and quite appalling.

I'm listening to it right now and...



That was hilarious. The girl answering killed herself because of that? That's a ridiculous idea.

I'm not concerned at all about the nature of pranks in this situation - what I'm concerned about is this this girl's attitude toward celebrity/royalty/people who have power above her. To think that anybody could be so effected by a person of stature that they could take their life for whatever reason, much less cry at a Bieber concert, is frankly pathetic. She may as well have literally signed a contract to hand her life over to her royalty. Talk about submission, holy cow. That's a glaring mental flaw if I've ever heard one.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

'A great idea' and 'very funny' are very strange ways of describing puerile tenth-rate comedy to me...

You'll be happy to know that the station has been faced with the usual response (down here at least) to controversies like this: sponsors have pulled out and the hosts have been stood down. The same thing happened when Kyle Sandilands said on live radio that a Polish-Australian television personality should have gone to a concentration camp if she wanted to lose weight, and when Alan Jones was taped saying that the Prime Minister's father had died of shame because "his daughter was a liar". That's how seriously this is being treated down here.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Kyle Sandilands

This stain on the underpants of life also arrange a female teenager to take a lie detector test on air and then bullied in her to confessing she had been raped. I would be very happy if this incident send the radio station which carries these louse underwater.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

This stain on the underpants of life also arrange a female teenager to take a lie detector test on air and then bullied in her to confessing she had been raped.

And then asked if that had been her only sexual experience as if she hadn't just said "I was raped" on live radio. It doesn't help that his co-host is a complete air-head who thinks that absolutely everything he says is hilarious and is apparently incapable of a single original thought. I remember when they used to host a countdown show during evening prime time and frequently broke the watershed, airing ads for condoms. When asked about it, she wasn't even aware that there were rules about what could be broadcast and when.

I would be very happy if this incident send the radio station which carries these louse underwater.

I don't think you can really lump Christian and Greig in with Sandilands. Sandilands is a shock jock - he's paid to be controversial, offensive and downright vile, and dumb enough to think he's clever - but my understanding is that Christian and Greig had only just partnered up. The phone call to the hospital was made at 5am local time, which means the station called at 4pm here. That puts Christian and Grieg square in the middle of the very competitive afternoon demographic, when people are driving home from work. Some of the big names that used to fill this timeslot, like Merrick Watts and Tim Ross, have gone their separate ways, while others - like Hamish Blake and Andy Lee - are now running on a reduced load. As a result, there is a vaccuum forming in the market, and it's getting very competitive among rival broadcasters. So I think this has all the hallmarks of a publicity stunt designed to get 2Day FM's afternoon ratings up and establish Christian and Greig in the timeslot. I can just see the production meeting with the presenters and producers sitting around bouncing ideas off one another and someone coming up with the idea of putting in a prank call to London ...

 

[Danoff]

It's posts like these that make me wonder why I browse this forum...

It's posts like this that keep me coming back.

'A great idea' and 'very funny' are very strange ways of describing puerile tenth-rate comedy to me...

I didn't say it was sophisticated or genius, I said it was a great idea and very funny. Yes, they were being silly, sometimes that's a lot of fun. That's what this prank was, fun.

... and suggesting that an otherwise happy and productive human being should be immune to the extreme pressures forced upon them by this situation is frankly ridiculous, and quite appalling.

Suggesting that this person committed suicide because of a prank phone call is absolutely 100% absurd and belittles the act and the mental state of a person who is willing to take their own life - especially an adult.

I hope that you are in no way saying that suicide is a reasonable response to her situation. She was barely involved in the prank call, a little embarrassment or maybe even losing her job (justifiably) should not result in suicidal thoughts. If you think that was a reasonable response to her situation then the other nurse on the phone call should definitely kill herself. She, afterall, was much more involved and has much more reason to be embarrassed.

Of course neither of them should kill themselves because everyone surrounding this story needs to light waaay the hell up. This was a bit of fun, and nothing more. Calling for the pranksters heads is moronic. Assuming that there was nothing else leading up to the suicide is naive and belittling.

Nobody would be saying any of this stuff if she hadn't committed suicide. It was a laugh, that's it. We don't need new procedures, we don't need new laws, nobody needed to kill themselves (and I think nobody did kill themselves over just this isolated issue), nobody needs to get fired, and everyone needs to just get a little perspective.

 

[Johnnypenso]

You'll be happy to know that the station has been faced with the usual response (down here at least) to controversies like this: sponsors have pulled out and the hosts have been stood down. The same thing happened when Kyle Sandilands said on live radio that a Polish-Australian television personality should have gone to a concentration camp if she wanted to lose weight, and when Alan Jones was taped saying that the Prime Minister's father had died of shame because "his daughter was a liar". That's how seriously this is being treated down here.

I don't call this treating it seriously, I call it caving to political correctness and sponsors and the station wanting to give the appearance of being on the right side of the issue. Treating it seriously would be looking at it logically and saying, "We feel sorry for the nurse and her family but it's completely unreasonable to think that this prank is the direct cause of this unfortunate incident" I presume these hosts have done dozens or hundreds of these pranks on air before and no one threated to pull their sponsorship no matter how distasteful they were, because they got ratings and it made economic sense. After this unfortunate but completely unpredictable consequence, everyone knows in this day and age that sides will be drawn up and anyone not agreeing that this is deplorable and sadistic will be villified.

If there is a liberal goverment down under, don't be surprised if there are calls for legislation to end the terrible scourge of prank phone calls. 👎

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Treating it seriously would be looking at it logically and saying, "We feel sorry for the nurse and her family but it's completely unreasonable to think that this prank is the direct cause of this unfortunate incident"

I wouldn't be so sure. The call was made at 5am London time, which means that the nurse who took the call was either just coming onto her shift, or just coming off it. Or worse, doing a double- or even triple-shift (though that usually only happens in the hospitals that are in serious trouble). It's entirely conceivable that she was totally worn out and fell for the obviously-fake call simply because she was so tired.

And in this day and age, the call probably would have gone viral. In the time between the call itself and the nurse's death, it was put into heavy rotation down here. As a result, she was the subject of international embarrassment.

I presume these hosts have done dozens or hundreds of these pranks on air before and no one threated to pull their sponsorship no matter how distasteful they were, because they got ratings and it made economic sense.

Nope. The two presenters had only been working together for three days prior to making the call. Like I said, they were square in the middle of a highly-competitive timeslot, and the usual heavyweights of that particular timeslot have either left or started winding down their shows, creating a vaccuum. They were clearly pushing to carve out a segment of the market.

 

[priesty_lfc]

I didn't say it was sophisticated or genius, I said it was a great idea and very funny. Yes, they were being silly, sometimes that's a lot of fun. That's what this prank was, fun.

Fun for who exactly?

Personally I fail to see how this is funny to anybody.

 

[Joel]

I thought it was overreaction at first when I thought it was the 2nd nurse on the line who committed suicide. I just realized it was the first one, and now I think this whole "controversy" is completely absurd.

Fun for who exactly?

Personally I fail to see how this is funny to anybody.

I thought it was funny. It's a dumb, silly prank, and those can be funny. I can understand how a tired nurse could patch the call through, and I don't think there's really much fault you can assign to her. It's just a silly prank that had an unfortunate ending.