Duchess of Cambridge Hospital Prank nurse commits suicide

midlandsmissus

KILLER @Mel***** so the nurse you called and mocked has committed suicide. Congrats

no tweets from @mel******** or @m####### today? probably difficult to type with a dead wife and mothers blood on your hands

Just two I picked from Twitter: do we want this to go the other way where these two are hated and driven to thinking there is no way out?

Is this the lesson to be learned from this?

tinkerbell

That poor poor woman, RIP. It was a disgusting prank.

By the way, it was the woman who answered the phone first who commited suicide - she answered the phone and transferred it to a nurse on the ward looking after the Duchess. She was covering for a receptionist or something - it was reported earlier that this was the case. She didn't give out the info, the other nurse did.

Fr_Dougal

midlandsmissus wrote: »

KILLER @Mel***** so the nurse you called and mocked has committed suicide. Congrats

no tweets from @mel******** or @m####### today? probably difficult to type with a dead wife and mothers blood on your hands

Just two I picked from Twitter: do we want this to go the other way where these two are hated and driven to thinking there is no way out?

Is this the lesson to be learned from this?

Well people saying that the radio presenters are at fault might just do that.

snubbleste

Anyone want to predict tomorrow's Sun pun headline or even the Express?

Micky Dolenz

midlandsmissus wrote: »

KILLER @Mel***** so the nurse you called and mocked has committed suicide. Congrats

no tweets from @mel******** or @m####### today? probably difficult to type with a dead wife and mothers blood on your hands

Just two I picked from Twitter: do we want this to go the other way where these two are hated and driven to thinking there is no way out?

Is this the lesson to be learned from this?

All very distasteful, some of the comments on the 2dayFM website were nothing short of disgusting.

SV

Who says that's the reason she committed suicide?

Could just be a mad coincidence to be honest.

The outlaw

People with knowledge of mental illness need to come out and say that's it's depression that caused suicide NOT DJs playing an innocent enough prank which is nowhere near as bad as what Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand did.
With a person with depression, the smallest things can upset them (I remember one blogger on here saying that they were upset when they found out they had no milk in their house for coffee, so gave up on the day and went back to bed). In their own warped thinking world, a suicidal person would use an incident like this prank as an excuse to take their own lives, as a sort of way of trying to make it easier for friends and family to understand, and to have someone or something else to blame rather than themselves.
A non depressed person would definitely not kill themselves over a one off incident no matter how horrific it was. It's a sort of relief for someone like the nurse, to finally have a good enough reason to do it (again in their frame of mind of course). The DJs should NOT be to blame for this. Remember that we're in suicide season at the moment. Obviously they would feel bad for what happened as that's human nature.
Note: suicide from cyber bullying is a different story.

midlandsmissus

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Well people saying that the radio presenters are at fault might just do that.

I do think they were at fault. But I also feel when people make a mistake they shouldn't be browbeated into the ground. I would not send an abusive message. I feel sorry for them. I think of them sitting there probably chain smoking, realising they contributed to another person's death, I mean that's awful for them, not sleeping, I mean, we're all human beings, and I can think of their suffering aswell, and it's horrible to think of anyone like that.

midlandsmissus

snubbleste wrote: »

Anyone want to predict tomorrow's Sun pun headline or even the Express?

SHOCK

JOCKS

KILL

ROYAL

NURSE

Feisar

Apart from the tragedy of the lady committing suicide, the prank was always going to be detrimental to her career, it was a stupid inconsiderate thing to do regardless of the awful outcome.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

yeah suicide
riiiiiiight

token101

TheFisherKing wrote: »

You then have a Prince (and most likely the rest of the British Royal family) very angry with you and perhaps calling for an investigation)even if not strenuously) and your employer is on Sky News, BBC News, CNN etc etc making apologies for that error, saying that patient confidentiality is usually taken extremely seriously and that there would be an official review of telephone protocols.

Add to that the story was splashed across newspapers throughout the world and it is quite obvious that her head must have been a mess, seeing a future filled with people saying she was the one who let it all to happen. Even just the sheer embarrassment of it all, that the Royal Family have been let down and it is her fault.

Intense sudden pressure like that could easily cause someone to just snap.

The Royals have said they never complained though, she hadn't been disciplined by the hospital or anything like it. It's more likely the intense pressure from the media got to her, from the types of bottom feeders who write the likes of the Daily Mail and the types who read it, who are easily outraged because they aren't capable of rational thinking and can't believe that two DJs couldn't foresee how a prank call could lead to a suicide, as if they themselves would have known. The same types who will relentlessly hound these two DJs until they wish they were dead as well. I wonder how many people who are looking for these two DJs' heads now were demanding that this woman be sacked last week? More than a few I'd say.

apache

i was absolutely horrified to hear this on the six one news. terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach

i saw the press conference that the hospital gave. they said she was not disciplined and the statement from the royal family said they did not complain. i don't believe this for a minute! after working in a hospital for six years i know how these things go. to give details like this over the phone to non family members is a definite no no. but if you lie how are you supposed to know the truth? there was no receptionist to take the phone and the nurse just took them at face value and patched them through to the nurse on the ward. there is no doubt in my mind she was being investigated for misconduct and that the royal family complained which of course was their right. because of this and the heavy feelings of blame and embarrassement and impeding misconduct investigations and the hospital closing ranks i would say she felt so lonely and horrified that she was the cause of this and it was so overwhelming for her that she took her own life. it didn't help that her mistake was in the public eye and she would be exposed.

according to the news she had two children. i am so sorry for this cruel cruel prank and this happened to her. i hope those djs are sacked or walk. they are preparing a press release as we speak.

Kristopherus

Have just logged on. Heard that awful news earlier. And IMHO those bastards that carried out that prank should be done for, at the very least, manslaughter. :mad::mad::mad:

Fr_Dougal

Kristopherus wrote: »

Have just logged on. Heard that awful news earlier. And IMHO those bastards that carried out that prank should be done for, at the very least, manslaughter. :mad::mad::mad:

What if comments like yours cause one of the presenters to commit suicide? Do you get done for, at the very least, manslaughter too?

Lollers

This was the same station that got into trouble, when a 14 year old was hooked to a lie detector test and had to admit she was raped, live on air. For the good of humanity. Just Die 2Day FM.

HeyThereDeliah

Kristopherus wrote: »

Have just logged on. Heard that awful news earlier. And IMHO those bastards that carried out that prank should be done for, at the very least, manslaughter. :mad::mad::mad:

That's a bit OTT don't you think, if these two take their own life's will it make it ok? If this lady killed herself because of media attention then might the two who made the call do likewise?
What is done can't be undone, making a bad situation worse is not the answer.

Allyall

My God.

It was a prank. It ddn't go wrong. It was nothing. TBH, a complete shíte prank.

If she killed herself because of it, well then, she killed herself because of it.
The Duchess of York, had morning sickness, a shíte joke phonecall was made. It was answered. No "Confidential information" was given out. They said she was dehydrated and sleeping. FCKS sake. Anyone that knows what morning sickness is could have guessed that.

If the lady had problems beforehand, then she had problems beforehand.

Two twats is Australia that get their kicks out of cráp jokes, having all of this cráp over that, is bullshít. They got the green light to air it. Some people thought it was funny, people that had a sense of humour, didn't.

R.I.P to the lady, and sympathies to her family, but suicide is not an understandable thing. It is horrible for everyone involved, and the worst thing anyone can do is blame somebody else for somebody's suicide with the exception of cases where the person was undoubtedly pushed to it/cornered/tortured/bullied/harassed etc.

This did not happen here. It was a cráp phonecall.
It is unfortunate that the lady chose to take her own life (If she did), but nobody is to blame.

:mad:

The Big Red Button

In fairness, if you listen to the call, it's pretty obvious they never for a second expected to be taken seriously.

And, as the call went on, they kept making it more ridiculous - it honestly seemed like they were trying to make it clear that it was only a joke.

And - while of course it wasn't right that patient information was broadcast on the radio - it's not even as though anything particular shocking or personal was revealed.

I used to listen to i102104 back in the day, they did this 'iJacker' thing, when they did really outrageous prank calls - serious stuff - and the presenter doing the calls was an awful lot more realistic and believable than these guys, too. I'm sure similar shows are done on various radio programmes all over the world. Maybe it's not right, it's often not funny. But these two in Australia were just unlucky.

The call should not have been taken seriously by the hospital; it doesn't seem like the DJs even intended it that way; it's just unfortunate that it was. I'm sure plenty of 'real' dodgy journalists made similar calls to the hospital looking for info - not just messing - and probably didn't get entertained for a second! It seems that, unfortunately, this call happened to come through between shifts or something, just by pure chance, and only got through for this reason.

And in the vast vast majority of these sort of pranks, there are no repurcussions. I barely heard about this whole thing before today; I'm sure it would have all been forgotten almost immediately if this poor woman hadn't taken her life. And who knows what may have been going on with her, before this incident.

Of course it was a stupid and irresponsible and thoughtless prank. But I do feel bad for the presenters (especially since it was probably their bosses who thought it up - not them.) I can't imagine they'll ever get over the guilt.

And of course this is going to overshadow the couple's pregnancy, to some extent.

It's just an absolutely awful situation, and I have sympathy for all involved. No one could have predicted the eventual outcome, and blaming the presenters or whoever else won't change a thing.

norrie rugger

The outlaw wrote: »

People with knowledge of mental illness need to come out and say that's it's depression that caused suicide NOT DJs playing an innocent enough prank which is nowhere near as bad as what Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand did.
With a person with depression, the smallest things can upset them (I remember one blogger on here saying that they were upset when they found out they had no milk in their house for coffee, so gave up on the day and went back to bed). In their own warped thinking world, a suicidal person would use an incident like this prank as an excuse to take their own lives, as a sort of way of trying to make it easier for friends and family to understand, and to have someone or something else to blame rather than themselves.
A non depressed person would definitely not kill themselves over a one off incident no matter how horrific it was. It's a sort of relief for someone like the nurse, to finally have a good enough reason to do it (again in their frame of mind of course). The DJs should NOT be to blame for this. Remember that we're in suicide season at the moment. Obviously they would feel bad for what happened as that's human nature.
Note: suicide from cyber bullying is a different story.

Ahh...
No

Me_Grapes

R.I.P. to that poor nurse.

I didn't give two flying ****s about this prank call story that was all over the news over the last week until I heard of this suicide, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that sentiment. I don't blame the pranksters for this, I blame the British Media and their swooning over this complete circus that is the British Royal Family. I'm sure it's been said loads of time in this thread, but it's the backlash and the inevitable ridicule that this poor woman would have recieved from these sanctimonious arseholes, who revere these priviliged, completely pointless toffs that has led her to the point of no return .

So needless. So Tragic.

indough

Me_Grapes wrote: »

R.I.P. to that poor nurse.

I didn't give two flying ****s about this prank call story that was all over the news over the last week until I heard of this suicide, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that sentiment. I don't blame the pranksters for this, I blame the British Media and their swooning over this complete circus that is the British Royal Family. I'm sure it's been said loads of time in this thread, but it's the backlash and the inevitable ridicule that this poor woman would have recieved from these sanctimonious arseholes, who revere these priviliged, completely pointless toffs that has led her to the point of no return .

So needless. So Tragic.

yeah everyone elses fault except the people who caused it to happen

Red21

I know if I was put in this situation it would be getting shuved into spotlight in this way that would really effect me.
I think people who don't mind the spotlight or would like a bit of notoriety don't fully realise how much others hate being the center of attention. I'm actually very outgoing but i've always felt that when I say to friends "I hate the spotlight" the don't fully understand how serious I am.
If i had been thrown into the spotlight in this way i'm not sure i woulda survived.

Neyite

magma69 wrote: »

BBC are reporting that she wasn't suspended or disciplined.

But I'm willing to bet that the hospital brass were secretly furious at this, and planned to do something to this woman's career the minute Sky news fcuked off - probably to camp outside her house and hound her.

This is the hospital known for treating the royals. They can trade on the exclusivity of the fact that the future monarch of the United Kingdom was cared for there in utero. Other Celebs in turn would then go there, and would pay a fortune for the privacy and discretion. I would say that in a few weeks they would quietly find a way to fire this nurse. By that stage the media would have been camping outside her house for weeks, making her a household name and ensuring that no hospital, or doctors surgery would touch her CV.

I'm betting that this nurse knew that her career was as good as over when the prank was revealed. I feel that the hospital should have had more stringent security protocols, and trained their staff in them.

maiden wrote: »

Correct me if Im wrong but it was the receptionist nurse who passed on the call to the nurse who gave the info, that committed suicide.

The poor lady didnt give out any information at all, just put thru the call

But that could also be argued that how was the ward nurse supposed to know that there was an error in vetting where the call originated from.

This is such a tragedy. I do feel that the lawyers who vetted the recording should have flagged that this would at least get someone fired. But no, all they cared about was whether they would get sued or not.

My name is URL

I love how the mass media are taking the moral high ground here. How many people would have heard about this prank without them regurgitating 'news' about the stupid thing?

Allyall

My name is URL wrote: »

I love how the mass media are taking the moral high ground here. How many people would have heard about this prank without them regurgitating 'news' about the stupid thing?

I'm tempted to contradict myself, but it wouldn't be the first time.

If anyone is to blame, it would have to be them. (The mass media).

Nobody really helped her in all honesty, she was just on a shift, not expecting the next three days/week of cráp. The media have a lot to answer for.
I remember a phrase that was around a lot when i was younger, when the media was less "busy".
"The pen is mightier than the Sword."
Knowing that, and how powerful media has become, and how whimsical they are of other peoples lives, something should be done. The amount of damage the media can do to somebody's life, even indirectly. Never mind celebrities etc.. Just a local story that they have the wrong facts to, etc..

blah blah.. starting to waffle..

Me_Grapes

indough wrote: »

yeah everyone elses fault except the people who caused it to happen

The fact that a radio DJ can't make a prank phone call without the media going overboard is what's the problem, not the prank phone call itself IMO.

apache

i don't think some people here are taking into consideration of how a hospital closes ranks on things like this. her life would have been made a misery until a full investigation was done which while this was going on the nurse would have been suspended on full pay. the investigation would inevitably led to her removal from the job. she would never have got a job as a nurse again - a job that she obviously wanted as a career after all her studying and experience.

her reputation would have been destroyed. her shame must have been immense especially with the high profile media interest in this case. she obviously was so traumatised by everything that she was not thinking clearly and saw no way out. i don't think you can allude to a mental illness. it was a snap decision i would say.

i feel very angry at the hospitals press release saying that she was not being investigated - what a load of bull! also the royal family saying they didn't complain - another load of bull! some shameful backtracking going on there.....



i also hope the other nurse who gave the information out can ride through this storm.

Lollers

apache wrote: »

i feel very angry at the hospitals press release saying that she was not being investigated - what a load of bull! also the royal family saying they didn't complain - another load of bull! some shameful backtracking going on there.....

True, I don't buy that for a minute.

ilikepears

apache wrote: »

i don't think some people here are taking into consideration of how a hospital closes ranks on things like this. her life would have been made a misery until a full investigation was done which while this was going on the nurse would have been suspended on full pay. the investigation would inevitably led to her removal from the job. she would never have got a job as a nurse again - a job that she obviously wanted as a career after all her studying and experience.

her reputation would have been destroyed. her shame must have been immense especially with the high profile media interest in this case. she obviously was so traumatised by everything that she was not thinking clearly and saw no way out. i don't think you can allude to a mental illness. it was a snap decision i would say.

i feel very angry at the hospitals press release saying that she was not being investigated - what a load of bull! also the royal family saying they didn't complain - another load of bull! some shameful backtracking going on there.....



i also hope the other nurse who gave the information out can ride through this storm.

I totally agree. I sincerely doubt that the hospital just went ok thats fine it was just a prank it wasn't your fault. I also doubt the royal family did likewise. There had to be a scapegoat for what happened. As a nurse you are very disposable within a hospital setting and you are very far down the line from those in power.
I also hope the other nurse is coping as well as possible.
RIP.

Neyite

Lollers wrote: »

True, I don't buy that for a minute.

I agree. They were just waiting until the media left. If they fired her while the spotlight was on the hospital it would have been terrible PR. But I reckon that nurse - both the nurses would have had an idea of how much in jeopardy their careers were.

stone roses

aussies are trying to be funny again , it will never work "stick to the surf lads"!!!

crackers and cheese

RIP
when I heard this news this evening I thought it was unbelievably tragic.
The poor woman. She may have had other issues going on in her life and this
pushed her over the edge.

swimming in a sea

problem I see is they did the prank and new they had now fuc$ed up a nurses career, so leave it at that please. But know they had been running two treads on twitter about this since.

The media reaction will be over the top, but they are the media, so play by the sword

Da Shins Kelly

The DJs are not guilty of indirectly killing someone. They are guilty, however, of being incredibly unfunny, distasteful and idiotic by prank calling a hospital and wasting the time of medical professionals that could be better spent elsewhere actually helping people who need it. For that reason alone, they should be sacked. And surely there must be some laws against this?

Alfred Borden

The DJ s aren't a fault for the death, they just are really immature irresponsible losers.

TheFisherKing

Kristopherus wrote: »

Have just logged on. Heard that awful news earlier. And IMHO those bastards that carried out that prank should be done for, at the very least, manslaughter. :mad::mad::mad:

This is TheFisherKing's wife here.

I have phoned the Gardai and I hope you get charged with manslaughter for that post yourself, as when my husband read it, he rolled his eyes so far back in his head that he popped one of the main cerebral veins and then dropped to the floor!

You killer!!

Thrill

I feel that ultimately the hospital is at fault for not having a trained receptionist on duty 24/7 while a member of the royal family was present. That hoax call would never have gotten any further than the reception desk.

Special protocols should have been in place regarding all calls inquiring about the royal couple.

The outlaw

The outlaw wrote: »

People with knowledge of mental illness need to come out and say that's it's depression that caused suicide NOT DJs playing an innocent enough prank which is nowhere near as bad as what Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand did.
With a person with depression, the smallest things can upset them (I remember one blogger on here saying that they were upset when they found out they had no milk in their house for coffee, so gave up on the day and went back to bed). In their own warped thinking world, a suicidal person would use an incident like this prank as an excuse to take their own lives, as a sort of way of trying to make it easier for friends and family to understand, and to have someone or something else to blame rather than themselves.
A non depressed person would definitely not kill themselves over a one off incident no matter how horrific it was. It's a sort of relief for someone like the nurse, to finally have a good enough reason to do it (again in their frame of mind of course). The DJs should NOT be to blame for this. Remember that we're in suicide season at the moment. Obviously they would feel bad for what happened as that's human nature.
Note: suicide from cyber bullying is a different story.

The point is, it wasn't really a 'one-off' moment. The poor woman's career was probably over. All that work and all that study, all over because of a stupid prank call. She probably also felt tremendously embarrassed, as if she was the laughing stock of the world. I don't know why people seem to think this is like not having milk for your morning coffee - it IS a pretty big deal. This woman's life as she knew it was probably over. I definitely think those radio presenters are partly to blame - if they possessed an ounce of intelligence, empathy or common sense, they'd have thought about the fact that they could be getting someone into serious trouble. Wasting the time of nurses caring to sick patients certainly isn't funny to me. I thought this prank was pathetic when I first heard about it and I feel very sorry for anyone who found it funny.

Fr_Dougal

TheFisherKing wrote: »

This is TheFisherKing's wife here.

I have phoned the Gardai and I hope you get charged with manslaughter for that post yourself, as when my husband read it, he rolled his eyes so far back in his head that he popped one of the main cerebral veins and then dropped to the floor!

You killer!!

RIP.

wonderfullife

A sad by-product of this tragedy is every nurse up and down the UK will be extremely wary of callers from now on. So you're going to get genuine family members ringing up to inquire about their loved ones having a hard time of it before they get any information.

When my dad was in hospital in the UK i managed to get an update from a lovely nurse who told me he's doing a bit better that day. I guess i could have been anybody to her - and in future i probably would be treated as "anybody" and told nothing. Actions have consequences and this would have been a sad by-product even before the nurses death.

As for the "it's just a prank, relax ffs" merchants - no it's not a prank when your soliciting information on the health of mother and baby, Royal or not. More to the point with the recent era in the UK of phone hacking and corruption there's very little to prevent that being a genuine solicitation for information.

I think it's unequivocally FAIR to say that the nurse in question feared for her job. Whether those fears were grounded in reality are not relevant but i'm sure she thought "fcuk what have i done?". Answer was her job. Nurses don't have the time or energy to ask 20 questions to establish the identity of a caller and, thankfully, 99.9999% of people who call a hospital are genuine.

None of us can ever know how this poor woman felt. But by all accounts she was a dedicated, great nurse and mother. Perhaps it may well be as simple as she was proud of her job and of treating the Duchess and those feelings of pride swung to embarrassment, fear and shame. As i said, nobody can know. But i could make a case that most rational people would be embarrassed and fearful for their livelihoods after giving away private information on a pregnant woman to a hoaxer.

Another sad episode altogether. The world is fcuked sometimes. RIP.

Kristopherus

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

What if comments like yours cause one of the presenters to commit suicide? Do you get done for, at the very least, manslaughter too?

Thank you for your most enlightening comment:rolleyes:. If those pranksters were in USA, they would be done for murder. If either of those two pranksters done themselves in, I for one, would not shed a tear.

Lenin Skynard

What will the child of the "Duchess of Cambridge" be called? The "Guv'nor of Gravesend"? :pac:

Man it's nice to live in a republic.

Intensive Care Bear

Its mad to think that if William had just pulled out that woman might still be alive. Thats the Butterfly effect for you folks.

Allyall

1210m5g wrote: »

If William had just pulled out that woman might still be alive. Thats the Butterfly effect for you folks.

If Kate hadn't paraded herself around him on the balcony that weekend with her top off..
Women have that effect on some of us.. :rolleyes:

Sunshineboo

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

What will the child of the "Duchess of Cambridge" be called? The "Guv'nor of Gravesend"? :pac:

Man it's nice to live in a republic.

Not funny at all. Reported.

Lenin Skynard

Sunshineboo wrote: »

Not funny at all. Reported.

Reported for what exactly? Sure report it fifty times if you like, I've read the forum charter.

DBBacker

Kristopherus wrote: »

Thank you for your most enlightening comment:rolleyes:. If those pranksters were in USA, they would be done for murder. If either of those two pranksters done themselves in, I for one, would not shed a tear.

No they wouldn't. Also guys like Howard Stern wouldn't bother with their shows in fear of someone doing the same thing after one of their pranks.

Corruptedmorals

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

What will the child of the "Duchess of Cambridge" be called? The "Guv'nor of Gravesend"? :pac:

Man it's nice to live in a republic.

He/she will almost certainly be gifted a title from the Queen. Equal importance if it's a girl because they changed the rules, if the eldest is a girl she will take the throne over a younger brother. Normally the heir is the Prince of Wales but they're all living too long these days...

Allyall

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

He/she will almost certainly be gifted a title from the Queen. Equal importance if it's a girl because they changed the rules, if the eldest is a girl she will take the throne over a younger brother. Normally the heir is the Prince of Wales but they're all living too long these days...

They should extend it their reach out to Ireland, Scotland also.

That way, even if the older ones don't give up the throne when they should, they could still be the King/Queen of Scotland, and Their Kids could be the King/Queen of Ireland.

Problem solved.