Tragedy As Receptionist Who Connected Kate Middleton Prank Callers Commits Suicide

[kpete]

Source: The Daily Beast

Tragedy As Receptionist Who Connected Kate Middleton Prank Callers Commits Suicide
by Tom Sykes Dec 7, 2012 9:37 AM EST

Nurse was found yards away from the hospital.

The prank phone call saga in which two Australian DJs impersonated the queen and got connected to a nurse looking after Kate Middleton took a tragic turn today after the nurse who was working on reception and put the call through committed suicide. She was found shortly after 9 a.m.

The hospital issued a statement today, saying: "With very deep sadness, the death is confirmed of a member of our nursing staff. Jasinther Saldana has worked at the hospital for four years. She was very much liked by all staff.

"We can confirm that Jasinther was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her through this difficult time. Jasinther was a first class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients and will be greatly missed."

Her husband and two children have been informed of her death.

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/07/tragedy-as-receptionist-who-connected-kate-middleton-prank-callers-commits-suicide.html

[SummerSnow]

1. Oh my...

Tragic.But could she have let this incident affect her that way or was it something more?

[Cleita]

64. Doesn't make sense does it?

I'm putting on my tinfoil hat and saying there is more to this than meets the eye.

[SugarShack]

77. She was not a receptionist - "Jasinther was a first class nurse " according to your post

[markpkessinger]

144. The word "receptionist" is in the original headline . . .

. . . and whatever she was, she was in a position to put a call through to a patient, which suggest at the very least that she had some receptionist-type responsibilities.

[Posteritatis]

106. Woo! Very first response is to shift responsibility away from the prank callers. (nt)

[Glorfindel]

2. What a tragedy

I don't like "pranks" - never have. Actions have consequences.

[closeupready]

3. So many things I'd like to say about this.

[Hugin]

4. There really is no way to respond to news like this...

A tragedy.

[Laurian]

5. So sad, I wish people would consider the consequences of

their actions more carefully. Was a stupid hoax that revealed nothing of importance in the world worth the heartache it has now caused?

[Posteritatis]

113. Stuff like this makes me glad the radio station I listen to has hosts with some scruples

Morning radio shows tend to be crewed as a general rule by, well, lowbrow assholes at the best of times. The one I listen to has a few people who are absolute saints by the standards of the medium and genuinely decent people on their own accord too.

It's a pretty shocking comparison to some others available here - another one got in trouble a year or so ago for actually making a contest out of an eastern European bride scam ("the male is in the Czech!&quot and have actually gotten worse since.

The bar for decent behaviour in those shows is really, really low. That's always made me sad, and occasionally angry after hearing stories like this (or the stunt from the morons I mentioned above), and it makes me sadder now that I've encountered some actual decent ones for comparison.

[Roland99]

6. Wait...no other psychological issues with the woman in the past?

seems very odd to kill one's self over something like that.

[Laurian]

8. Doesn't excuse the pranksters. You can never really know the mental or

physical status of those who may be caught up in something like this.

[Roland99]

9. true...but this not far from blaming music lyrics for suicides

[enlightenment]

23. Actually, it is quite far from that.

Lyrics are not generally written in order to fool someone into doing something silly, dangerous, or improper. A prank is designed to do that very thing.

[patrice]

28. One also has a choice when it comes to lyrics. This was an un-asked for assault upon this lady & her

job, which she apparently valued very personally.

[Posteritatis]

110. Yep. Sad that people don't get that. (nt)

[JimDandy]

66. Impersonating the Queen is identity theft in my book.

Hopefully GB has a law against that like we do against impersonating an officer of the law. I'm sure she felt her job was in danger, no matter what the hospital is now saying about having supported her. Very tragic.

[BrightKnight]

143. Using social engineering to hack someone's medical information is not a prank. - n/t

[pacalo]

26. You're absolutely right. When I was a kid, a neighbor had a stroke after getting

a series of prank phone calls from a couple of kids who lived on the next block. They knew she was a good target: she wasn't the type who let things roll off her shoulders & her reaction kept them calling back. She collapsed under her carport & was able to tell the neighbors who rushed to help her about what made her upset. She never recovered from the stroke; she remained bedridden in a vegetative state until she died. I'm still bitter about that.

I wonder if this nurse did get some troubling intimidation as a result of this prank incident. For all we know, what drove her over the edge could have been unrelated but, considering the prestige of the royal family, it certainly could have added to the nurse's distress. How utterly sad.

[freshwest]

41. Yes, I hear you. All for the lulz, no consequences. There are so many varieties of people, it's best

to restrain oneself because you never know what's the last straw with someone.

As someone said in Meta, what if a person posting is suffering from cancer and doesn't want to tell everyone, but is looking for something to pass the time here or elsewhere with some fun, then is attacked?

My reply was, we are all terminal. Cheap thrills have limits. The Golden Rule is the way of peace and understanding.

[pacalo]

122. Here's the thing about Meta...

Participation is one's choice; it's not invasive & unsolicited like prank phone calls. Plus, DU provides an ignore feature & I've just begun to use it as of last week for the first time in 8 years -- I highly recommend it.

[freshwest]

124. True, but you can't leave what's at home. Back then, people didn't turn their ringers off or have VM

I've been using Ignore since DU2. And I add one or two every few weeks. We're paying to be here, don't need to put up with abuse.

[kickysnana]

12. It only seems odd if you live in Florida. n/t

[Roland99]

14. wtf is that supposed to mean?

[kickysnana]

18. Everyone's a psychiatrist now.

Nurses are not generally receptionists so if a nurse was doing the receptionists job I would assume she was filling in and that she did not get the complete training on how to screen calls. No doubt she was told afterwards that if the call had gotten all the way through that worst case scenario Kate Middleton could have possibly lost her baby because that is true.

She is feeling duped, ashamed, humiliated and did not have time to deal with it all and made a rash decision. Not every one has experience being pranked to the point of endangering someone. In our family we were taught that that was as bad as an assault because it can have the same affect in some cases. We also were taught how to deal with such pranks if they happened to us but some people do not have that training.

Just because you have feelings that can be hurt does not make you a basket case. It is also why all the Shock Jocks almost always end up out on the street because they really have no filters of what is funny and what is mean or possibly dangerous.

The best caregivers are not hard, weary and callous

[d_r]

27. the prankers asked to speak to Kate

and the call was transferred to the nurse who gave them a brief update on her condition.

eta - correction. I read an article on the mirror and they think that she is the one that put the call through and another nurse answered the question about her condition.

[kickysnana]

31. The nurse getting the call transferred would assume protocol had been followed

and the call was screened or verified before it was put through.

I did work reception at a hospital some time ago.

[Londoncalling]

40. Most likely because it was the nightshift...

therefore they did not have the usual receptionist...The DJs were breaking the law in fishing for private medical information,
then broadcasting it. If a British journalist or DJ had tried that right now, they would be in serious trouble, with or without the suicide.
I know they say no action had been taken by the hospital, which is unlikely... These DJ's risked the jobs of the people they spoke to during a terrible recession, the threat of losing your job right now is driving up suicide rates.

[CreekDog]

36. Are you serious? To be the object of worldwide news coverage and ridicule?

I think you are underestimating the power of that kind of thing.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

61. Agree.

There's a reason police remove shoelaces and neck ties when they arrest someone.

People can make terribly rash decisions when faced with that sort of shame and embarrassment.

I wonder how all the tough talkers would feel with THAT kind of heat focused on a major fuck up in their jobs. The royals were "furious" and Buckingham Palace was "demanding answerers".

[Posteritatis]

109. Definitely

If I guessed one in a thousand people here has had experience in that kind of thing I'm utterly certain I'd be highballing my estimate.

The unending harassment from being the subject of a good global news story would be difficult enough for plenty of people to deal with, never mind an implicit call for all and sundry to make fun of someone. The people dismissing this as though it's not going to be a big deal to someone have no clue and even less empathy.

[yardwork]

118. Not to mention potentially losing your professional reputation, meaning no job.

Violating patient confidentiality can be a career-ending mistake for a nurse. Not only might she have been fired from her job, she might have had a lot of trouble finding another job with this all over the internet. At least, that's probably how it seemed to her in the middle of the night.

My heart goes out to her and her family. What a tragedy and senseless waste.

[magical thyme]

125. not to mention that medical privacy breaches are grounds for being escorted off the job

even when they don't involve royalty. Her career was as good as over thanks to those assholes.

We had an admin person walked out of the hospital last March or so for a HIPAA violation. Similar situation in the UK, I believe.

[MADem]

51. Absolutely. Any suggestion that the pranksters "caused" this woman's death are way off the mark.

If one thing didn't send her over the edge, it would have been some other thing.

The balance of her mind was disturbed--that's what caused her death. Not a couple of assclowns from Australia.

[liberalmuse]

52. If a person is ready to jump off of a bridge...

and someone comes up behind them and pushes them to their death, we pretty much know who would be blamed for the death. And we'll never know whether or not the person would have jumped if they hadn't been pushed.

If it weren't for the DJ's inciting racial hatred, would the genocide in Rwanda have happened? Either way, they are to blame.

This is so very sad. I'm too angry to say what I think of the DJ pranksters.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. "The hospital had been supporting her through this difficult time"

So says the hospital statement.

I wonder how the "support" was expressed to her.

[Ash_F]

32. Yeah the transcript of the call did not seem that traumatizing

...but her boss's probable admonishment could have been.

Transcript here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/05/hospital-gives-details-of-kate-middleton-to-dj-impersonating-the-queen-badly.html

[Posteritatis]

112. Or, y'know, the inevitable harassment after the Internet found out about something like that.

On top of the official attention I'd be very, very surprised if half the media on the planet, to say nothing of any number of mere idiot trolls, were at every door and phone the woman had in an attempt to drag the whole thing out.

[Politicub]

10. Omg. It wasn't worth taking her own life.

Nothing is, really.

She died from embarrassment.

I'm hating the royals and their privilege this morning. What a useless bunch.

And what a tragedy.

[CreekDog]

39. how is this the Royals fault?

heaven forbid we actually blame the pranksters --no, no, we can't do that.

[Politicub]

44. Where did I say they were at fault?

I'm just sick of hearing about them and how big of a deal it was that someone found out that Kate was being treated for morning sickness.

I'm so over people of privilege and the near worship of the royals. And I disagree with monarchy in principal. It runs counter to equality and equal opportunity.

The world will be a better place once we consign monarchy to the dustbin of history.

Many conservatives actually like the idea of a monarch since they believe kings and queens are put in place by god. Yet another reason to reject it. Just google Christian monarchist to see what I'm talking about.

[Democratopia]

57. Well said. Scrap the royal family. If need be, have figureheads that are elected for short periods

- ordinary people like nurses, teachers, charity workers, community organizers, builders, etc.

[Politicub]

86. I like that idea

And thank you.

[Barack_America]

11. Oh her poor children. Another victim of bullying.

I can't imagine the ridicule she had been facing. The radio station bears responsibility here. There's no reason the DJs should have carried on with the hoax after the call had been put through. They should have broken character, revealed the joke and ended the call. But to continue and get sensitive information about a patient? Unacceptable.

[Faygo Kid]

13. Wow. Unbelievably tragic.

To blame the prank call for this is an overreaction, but the repercussions will be severe. Not worth leaving your family and this world because of a couple of DJ jerks. Condolences.

[Remmah2]

15. :(

Wow!

[Beacool]

16. Why???????

Why kill yourself over a stupid prank? There's got to be more to the story. Her poor children and husband.

Rest in peace.

[Posteritatis]

108. Why?

Has anyone ever made you a laughingstock in front of a global audience, in the context of your career just to add insult to injury?

If you handled this so much more smoothly I'm sure we'd all appreciate your experienced advice on what the victim should have done.

[Posteritatis]

107. Being publicly humiliated in front of a global audience is hard for some people to take.

Shrugging it off as the unaffected party seems to be much, much easier.

[magical thyme]

126. the suicide was over a destroyed career along with the public humiliation

You have no idea what life is like as a health care employee.

[TwilightGardener]

17. I guess she was mortified at having been duped and somehow

felt she "failed" the royals. Which is ridiculous. I'm sure the coddled princess will get over it. Christ. Thank you, American Revolutionaries and Founding Fathers--you guys were all right...

[harun]

19. WTF?

[SoapBox]

22. exactly.

[Third Doctor]

20. I think she had underlying issues

other than a prank call.

[BlueCollar]

21. I feel very sad about this

I'm sure she felt humiliated and I very much doubt that the "...hospital has been supporting her..."

The results of pranks can't always be predicted.

[randome]

24. Sometimes no one's to blame for a tragedy.

Prank calls don't encourage someone to kill themselves and leave their children and spouse behind. To say the prank call was responsible for this is second-guessing at the extreme.

With seven billion people on the planet, the odds are that one prank phone call will someday connect with one emotionally disturbed individual with terrible results.

[yardwork]

30. This particular radio station has done other cruel things in the past, though.

Last edited Fri Dec 7, 2012, 07:53 PM - Edit history (1)

In the article at the link, it discusses how this particular radio station is already in trouble for broadcasting a different show in which the hosts forced a 14 year old girl to say on the air that she was raped, for instance.

[alp227]

48. Oh my, I was reading about that incident yesterday!

http://feministing.com/2009/07/29/when-radio-goes-so-so-wrong/comment-page-1/

[yardwork]

115. Same radio station. Nice people, huh?

Edit to correct.

[Violet_Crumble]

116. fyi, that wasn't the same show

That other one involved Kyle Sandilands, who's a revolting toad, and unless I'm remembering wrong, he was taken off the air for that one. When Alan Jones recently said that the PM's father (who had recently died) had died of shame because of her, he wasn't taken off the air, though advertisers dumped him in droves.

I don't agree with the people in this thread who are blaming prank calls done by radio stations. This one went badly wrong a few days after the prank happened. Prince Charles was cracking a joke on the news last night about the prank, but that was before the woman who worked at the hospital killed herself. My bet is no-one's laughing now, let alone the two DJ's. I saw them interviewed the other day just after the prank call and they were really surprised that they'd been put through, seeing as how their accents were a dead giveaway if nothing else was. Their mistake was in not ending the call there, and broadcasting what was said about Kate Middleton's condition. But they're not to blame for someone killing themselves. I think given the embarressment caused to the hospital, it's possible that she got into trouble for putting the call through in the first place...

While this prank had a tragic outcome in the end, here's another prank a few years ago where they were expecting to be stopped early on and it never happened. I'm betting a few of the cops who waved these guys through got hauled over the coals for allowing them through, but none of them killed themselves...

[yardwork]

117. It's the same radio station, but not the same show.

Thank you for the clarification. I'll correct my post upthread. It's the same station, different show. From the link in the OP:

The tragic news will heap pressure on 2DayFM, the radio station which made the call.

The station is already serving two five-year license probations after serious breaches of the Australian regulator's code.

The broadcaster was handed the first reprimand in 2009 after a 14-year-old girl was attached to a lie detector and then said live on air that she had been raped.

[graham4anything]

37. and Sean Hannity called Daschle & his wife the devil and then he got 'thraxed

but technically it was not directly connected either

[LanternWaste]

93. Nor do ugly Facebook comments compel young students

"Prank calls don't encourage someone to kill themselves..."

Nor do ugly Facebook comments compel young students to kill themselves either...

[randome]

120. I agree. Deliberate bullying or hatred can be the cause of suicide.

Not a direct cause but a cause nonetheless.

I don't see that this is what happened in this case, though.

[d_r]

25. This.

A source added: “There is a lot of anger about this. Prince William was said to be furious when he found out.

“Kate is vulnerable and weak at the moment and these people think it’s funny to make a joke out of it?”

The Queen’s former press ­secretary Dickie Arbiter warned there would be “fireworks” at the Palace over the hoax call made to the King Edward VII Hospital.

He added: “This is a shocking breach of security.

“The Royal Family have been clients of the King Edward VII for many, many years and it beggars belief that a member of the public could call up and obtain details of the duchess’s medical condition in this way.

“Where on earth were the checks and balances?

"The hospital will be livid at what has happened and I am sure the Palace will be demanding answers.”

[secondwind]

29. Maybe it wasn't a suicide.. maybe she was "helped" by M15 or some folks...

[woolldog]

33. you watch too much TV

lol

[wickerwoman]

35. It's MI5

and that's completely absurd bordering on offensive.

It would be like suspecting the CIA "suicided" a teacher who talked about Malia Obama's grades.

[alp227]

55. And the jury let the post stand 3-3,

no explainations given at all.

[Democratopia]

59. It might be absurd, but we should be open minded

[jeff47]

63. No, we really shouldn't.

It's utterly moronic to insist people must be open-minded to conspiracies that don't even make a tiny bit of sense.

[Democratopia]

99. Which bit doesn't make sense to you? How do you KNOW for a fact what happened or not?

[jeff47]

100. The same way I know ghosts from Kolob didn't appear on Earth and kill her. (nt)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

38. It might be worth a conspiracy theory

except that I don't think the radio station got any really sensitive info, just some generalizations about condition, which was in the press anyway.

My theory is she was ridiculed and bullied by hospital staff and administrators. Not "supported" as claimed in the hospital's press release.

[harun]

90. That scenario would make the most sense to me

[LanternWaste]

95. What specifically leads you to consider that

What specifically leads you to consider that as a viable possibility?

[Posteritatis]

111. Ah, the high-pitched buzzing sound of Occam twirling in his grave.. (nt)

[graham4anything]

34. This blame should be on the HS's and O&A's who do these stupid things and popularized it

[bucolic_frolic]

42. One can never know what is going on in someone else's head

Sometimes it's the little things that tip the scale

or in an environment and life of perfection one medium breach is enough

Americans may not truly understand what the prim and proper life entails

Let's hope they all learn from this and make things as right as they can be

[LisaL]

71. It might be a little thing to us, but to her it likely was a huge deal.

[BillyJack]

133. Obviously@huge deal.....if she killed herself

if that is in fact what happened.

[Nye Bevan]

43. Sad, but life would be as boring as hell if we banned all pranks and jokes at people's expense,

on the grounds that we never know who will commit suicide.

Say the "get a brain moran" guy committed suicide- would DU really be to blame?

[union_maid]

46. He was asking for ridicule

The nurse was just doing her job. Really. He was out there for the express purpose of making a public demonstration. Pranks cause pain or embarassment to anonymous people who are just looking to go about their business are really more cruel than funny.

[Nye Bevan]

49. So the "People of Walmart" website should be shut down?

Just in case any of the Walmart shoppers being ridiculed decide to commit suicide?

[union_maid]

67. Haven't seen that

No opinion on that, because I haven't seen it or heard of it. This woman could have been fired for being fooled, though. I don't know if this exerience drove her to suicide or why it would do that, but doesn't that sound unnecessarily mean to you? I guess, having worked as a receptionist and in various office capacities, I just kind of relate to how difficult it can be to be in her position. It's tough enough to get through a workday as it is, without having assholes make it impossible.

[StatGirl]

81. It should be shut down anyway

It is classist and cruel.

[alp227]

53. Is America a nation of ignorant teenagers nowadays?

Sad that even adults (including in a forum like this one) will turn to teenage like rationalizations of the patently offensive. Like Daniel Tosh's rape joke. I see that on youtube comments and other online communities all the time...i expect DU to be better.

[progressoid]

54. They have gone beyond pranks and jokes.

The broadcaster was handed the first reprimand in 2009 after a 14-year-old girl was attached to a lie detector and then said live on air that she had been raped.

... “Have you ever had sex?” The 14-year-old replied: “I've already told you the story about this ... and don't look at me and smile because it’s not funny.”

After a pause, she raised her voice with frustration and said: “Oh OK, I got raped when I was 12 years old.”

Regulars again ruled against the station when it found that 2DayFM's "Kyle & Jackie O Show" breached decency codes when broadcaster Kyle Sandilands called a female journalist a "fat slag" in November.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority said the comments were "deeply derogatory and offensive"

He was reported as saying: "What a fat bitter thing you are, you deputy editor of an online thing. You've got a nothing job anyway. You're a piece of s**t. You’re a bulls**t artist, girl. That's what you are. You should be fired from your job."

The station apologised but did not fire the presenter.

[Quasimodem]

91. Who was the butt of the joke?

At first glance their prank appears to be “about” Kate, William and the Royal Family, but except for the potential for private information being leaked, they were untouched.

The real butt of this prank was the staff of the hospital — some insignificant nurse or receptionist. The DJs may not have been expecting the tragic results that their prank garnered, but they had already fallen afoul of H.L. Mencken's maxim for media: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

I know, I know! Calling such radio shows media, is somewhat akin to calling Glenn Beck a journalist.

[LanternWaste]

96. I imagine there are indeed people who would be bored if we no longer ridiculed others

I imagine there are indeed many people who would be bored and sad if we no longer ridiculed others. I may only hope I do not consider them close to me an any way...

[JI7]

132. that was was participating in a public Demonstration and wanted the attention

[EC]

50. If the hospital was "supporting her through this difficult time"

why did she commit suicide? I'll bet the hospital put her on notice, I don't think they were supporting her at all...they're saying so in press release was CYA statement.

[dipsydoodle]

56. If the hospital was "supporting her through this difficult time" , which they were ,

it still doesn't follow that she could come to terms with what had happened.

It is also now apparent that the Royal family did not register any complaints on the subject - your tv news may differ from ours here in the UK.

[Quasimodem]

92. Yes, but ...

Although the Royal family may not have registered any complaints, do you imagine that some "officials from the palace" didn't registered concern over how easily the hospital's security was breached?

[dipsydoodle]

98. The same on that subject

would've applied to anyone under our Data Protection Act. Aside from that its claimed that no complaints were sent from whoever other than I would imagine William would've given someone a quick verbal on the spot and then let it go. I doubt he went as far Brick Top's quip "Do you know what nemisis means"

[TwilightGardener]

62. Yeah...the hospital was taking heat from the royal family,

I'm sure--so I'm just CERTAIN they were all kinds of "supportive" to this employee. I know for a fact that hospital administrators will hang nurses out to dry to spare the facility--at least in the US.

[Democratopia]

58. Maybe she knew something she shouldn't.......Dr David Kelly, Princess Di spring to mind.........

[Blandocyte]

60. I'd let them spring right back

but that's just me.

[Cleita]

65. Why doesn't the article state the cause of death?

If she was found dead, it could have been a heart attack from stress, or did she shoot herself in the back? There seem to be some suspicious suicides in the UK.

[LisaL]

69. If she took some pills, they don't know yet.

[Cleita]

72. Then why are they saying it's a suicide?

Jumping to conclusions much?

[LisaL]

74. We are not privy to all the information they have. Maybe she left a note.

[Cleita]

76. Then they shouldn't say it until we are privy to it. eom

[LisaL]

80. Why?

[Cleita]

83. Because it's not truthful to jump to conclusions like that

until there is proof.

[Chemisse]

139. In the US, details about suicide are often concealed,

presumable out of respect for the families.

We really don't have a right to know the particulars of someone's inner hell.

[dipsydoodle]

70. At present

our police have simply said the cause death is not being treated as suspicious

[Cleita]

73. I shouldn't be and yet they are concluding

she committed suicide? It really doesn't make sense.

[dipsydoodle]

78. Thats because

nobody else seems to have been involved in connection with her death. As such its "assumed" to be suicide.

[LisaL]

79. Death where no one else is involved could also be due to natural causes.

But they could have found something at the scene to suggest it's not natural causes.

[dipsydoodle]

88. Were it not the fact

that here in the UK a death at home of anyone requires the presense of both the police and a medic. If it has been natural causes then I think that may have already been alluded to - it hasn't. A pathology report will be used to determine cause of death at a coroners court.

[Cleita]

82. Well, in my life time I knew two women who were found dead.

Both had talked to family members within the hour before their deaths and seemed fine. One sat down in a chair and was found there dead. The other had decided to lie down for a nap she never woke up from. When they were found dead no one jumped to the conclusion they had committed suicide. Subsequent autopsy results showed they had died of massive heart attacks when they were alone. So it seems to me like it's premature to state this unless someone is trying to plant the idea in the public's mind that this is what happened. The whole thing about her past seems to be to paint her as unstable. What is really going on?

[LisaL]

84. There are things found at the scene that could have made it obvious this death were not due

to natural causes.

[Cleita]

85. Yes, things we don't know about yet.

There seems to have been suicides around town where the suicidee had crossed the line around very powerful people. Seems too suspicious to me.

[Chemisse]

140. Clearly they would not call it suicide if there was not some compelling reason to think that.

FFS, maybe they found the poor woman hanging from a rope. Maybe she slit her wrists. She could have jumped off the London Bridge.

[Auntie Bush]

68. Maybe she was embarrassed because her mistake would/was national news and the hospital may have

threatened to fire her. She may have feared she'd never get another job would forever be embarrassed. I'm sure she was very depressed about the whole matter and depressed people often committee suicide Anyway, that's as good a guess as any.

[Cleita]

89. All I can think of is if it were me, I would have

written the Prince and Duchess a very contrite letter of apology for being so gullible and tried to get it to them somehow or write a letter to the editor of a reputable newspaper if I couldn't. Then I would have moved on and taken my lumps whether being fired or whatever, but to end your life especially when you have family that needs you doesn't make sense to me even when you are depressed. Also, with all that access to health care in Great Britain, it seems it would have been easy enough to get the depression treated. This just doesn't ring true.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

101. Plenty of otherwise healthy people have killed themselves in jail cells over stupid minor arrests.

People can do stupid things when faced with that kind of embarrassment.

[Chemisse]

141. It's true. It takes a huge amount of courage to face worldwide condemnation.

I can't even fathom how humiliating it would be.

I would not kill myself, of course, but people who are already emotionally vulnerable could very well do so.

[struggle4progress]

75. Australian DJs taken off air after Royal hoax call

6:23pm, Fri 7 Dec 2012 Kate hospital nurse dead
Australian DJs taken off air after Royal hoax call
Last updated Fri 7 Dec 2012

The two Australian DJs, Mel Greig and Christian Michael, who hoax called the King Edward Hospital will not return to their show until further notice ...

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-12-07/australian-djs-taken-off-air-after-royal-hoax-call/

[Cleita]

87. Gee, I wonder if they are going to commit suicide too?

I guess we will have to wait and see.

[Quasimodem]

97. Unfortunately...

Pit vipers can't feel remorse.

[struggle4progress]

94. ... Authorities have not confirmed a cause of death,

despite rumors that Saldana committed suicide ...
Nurse In Royal Prank Found Dead, Could Be Ruled Suicide
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/12/07/nurse-in-royal-prank-found-dead-could-be-ruled-suicide/

[dipsydoodle]

105. Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20645838

Which in the UK means : natural causes , accidental death / death by misadventure or suicide. A medic would've been at the scene with the police.

[Rider3]

102. This is so sad

For people who think that she couldn't be mentally well to begin with and that's why she killed herself, let me just say that everyone is wired differently. She felt that she embarrassed herself in front of the entire WORLD. The stress and anxiety that would bring upon a person would be overwhelming. Until you go through a breakdown, you cannot understand how low a person can feel and what they care capable of. Have a little bit of empathy for this woman. None of us have walked in her shoes. Don't judge how this effected her.

[soleft]

103. Seems similar to what happened to the Rutgers student

The dj's may not have committed a hate crime, but clearly they should have known that someone could at the very least lost their job as a result of their prank. It was malicious and they should face some consequences.

[toby jo]

104. Very sad, a family broken, 2 kids with no mom, 2 egotistical bastards stroking themselves - ouch.

Don't care for the idea of royalty, but the people themselves in these positions have their hands full. Kate seems quite the tender sort - this will bother her, no doubt.

When I first heard she was pregnant & in the hospital, I figured we'd be in for 6 months of it. Yech. But maybe a tragedy like this will help force their hand to walk away from the whole show.

I've always thought that royal wealth would best be spent on charity, maybe these 2 kids can help it to transcend.

[elbloggoZY27]

114. What a Tragedy

I am really saddened by this news and what a huge tragedy this is.

This was not just a hoax when the victims dies.

The family I am sure is beyond grief and I really want to express my condolences to her immediate family.

[JI7]

119. i wonder if she was an immigrant or something other about her background

if she came from a place without much and always worked hard her life. she may not be familiar with certain parts of the culture and views this as bigger than it is and blames herself. maybe blaming herself for Kate's health ?

this is just so sad. and she had kids. i really wish this had not happened.

[LisaL]

123. I am pretty sure she was an immigrant.

So it maybe cultural as well.

[DaniDubois]

121. Yes we're all wired differently, but most of us wouldn't have killed ourselves over this.

We've all been the butt of a joke at one time or another. It happens. Only an unstable person kills them selves to begin with. It's a tragedy true, but if she were in her right mind she could have milked her mistake for a whole lot of money. Sell the story to TMZ or the Enquirer, T shirt sales, morning sickness pills, the list goes on. When life gives you lemons you make...

[Posteritatis]

129. Ever been the butt of a joke on a global scale?

Thought not.

[AnnieBW]

127. Can Her Family Sue the Aussie DJs? Or the station?

This came up at dinner. First of all, kudos to the hospital for standing by her. If it had been an American hospital, she'd have been under the bus so fast it would make your head spin. But also, can the British nurse's survivors sue the Australian DJs and/or the radio station for damages? Or wrongful death? I know that Australia is technically part of the Commonwealth, but do British laws apply or Aussie ones?

[Posteritatis]

128. Lawsuits get filed across borders all the time. Beyond that, don't know the specific laws.

I'd be astonished if they couldn't sue somehow (or, failing that, if the DJs actually end up charged with something or other).

[fascisthunter]

130. aw shit

nothing I type will express what I feel after reading this.

[spiderpig]

131. Me too, fascisthunter

As a kid we'd play "pranks" on people we knew, but not on people we didn't.

The last stupid prank I participated in was in college. Our dorm had heard that if you put a sleeping person's hand in a bowl of water, they'd pee the bed. A bunch of us sneaked into the room where my very rich roomie was sleeping and put her hand in a bowl. She woke up to half a dozen floormates and said "you ********s".

That's a prank. These DJs were sadists and attention-junkies.

My roomie didn't pee the bed, BTW.

[BlueStater]

134. I'm sorry she killed herself but I don't think a stupid joke was worth taking her life over. N/T

[In_The_Wind]

135. The broadcast should have been stopped.

Is there no end to what some will do to boost a rating?

[JesterCS]

136. I have to wonder if there were any other underlying

mental problems with the receptionist. Noone offs themselves for something like that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

137. Call was recorded, and approved by station management and lawyers before broadcast

The chairman of King Edward VII Hospital wrote to Southern Cross Austereo a day after Jacintha Saldanha, 46, apparently killed herself.
...
The call was recorded before being assessed by the station's lawyers and then broadcast.

"King Edward VII's Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of our patients, let alone actually make the call," Lord Glenarthur wrote.

"Then to discover that, not only had this happened, but that the call had been pre-recorded and the decision to transmit approved by your station's management, was truly appalling."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20650721

[muriel_volestrangler]

138. Kick

because we're getting duplicate threads.

[Celefin]

142. Pranks and ethnic backgrounds...

She was an immigrant from India who came to the UK 9 years ago with all the family still in India. Being publicly humiliated on a global scale with your career in jeopardy would be tough enough for a European. But with roots in a deeply conservative society with strict and complex social rules... it must have felt like a monumental failure, embarrassment and humiliation. Basically her life was over. And so it was. Speaks volumes that her family never heard about the prank call until her husband called them with news of her death.

Nothing to shrug off at all. I'd be happy if prank calls were made illegal. They are cringe-worthy at the best of times anyway and always a good reason to switch station. The two DJs look like the picture book schoolyard bully/bitch who mob other 14 year olds into committing suicide and then say 'hey, it was just some fun'.