Duchess of Cambridge's nurse has reportedly been found dead

R.P.L said:
That's irrelevant anyway - the point is who the blame lies with. According to your reasoning, people would have to drive everywhere at something like 2mph to be exempt from blame, as any faster could result in injury to anyone who jumped in front of your car, therefore making your actions malicious.
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well no i said that if you're speeding you're going to get ****ed if you run someone over.,

doing 50 in a 30 and then hitting and killing someone is not something you're ever getting away with.

the speed limit was chosen for that area and that speed because it skews the survival statistics to the positive side.

50 is well into the 90% + chance of death.


You're not getting out of it just by saying " have hit them anyway".
 
Whilst it is absolutely awful that the nurse committed suicide and has left behind 2 kids etc, i can't help but thinking the DJ's aren't to blame. The number of prank calls i've heard on the radio over the years on Scott Mills, Chris Moyles, Capital, Heart, Kiss etc etc that have all ended in everyone having a good laugh. This prank call wasn't malicious like the one that Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross did, it was just a bit of larking around on the phone. Then think about all the jokes that comedians, like Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, tell about people (Rebecca Adlington, Jordan, Dawn French etc etc). None of them have committed suicide even though the comments were far more "hurtful" than a light hearted prank call.

These Australian DJ's have been incredibly unlucky in the fact that the person that answered the phone was probably fairly unstable anyway to have committed suicide over it. Hell, the nurse that answered the phone didn't really do anything wrong, she wasn't disciplined or fired.

For me, this sounds just like a tragic incident that happens from time to time with no one massively at fault. If it is found to be any different, they better be taking Facejacker/Fonejacker etc off the air in case someone commits suicide because there is a pigeon in their bank account.
 
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I agree. I think it is bad that they tried to get details from the hospital staff because if they were given details (as they indeed were) the person who gave them the details probably would have lost their job. They should have thought about this before they did the prank call and they shouldn't have done it for that reason alone.

However, them predicting that someone (who didn't even give the details out!) would commit suicide over it would have been impossible.
 
Tefal said:
well no i said that if you're speeding you're going to get ****ed if you run someone over.,

doing 50 in a 30 and then hitting and killing someone is not something you're ever getting away with.

the speed limit was chosen for that area and that speed because it skews the survival statistics to the positive side.

50 is well into the 90% + chance of death.


You're not getting out of it just by saying " have hit them anyway".
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We'll be going wildly off-topic but this isn't actually the case at all and there is numerous case law where people have not been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after being involved in fatal accidents whilst commiting other offences.

Some of them fairly high profile and discussed on here - remember the 'OMG ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT' who had no driving license, no insurance and was speeding? He hit and killed somebody but ISTR he got convicted only of the other driving offences and not the death.
 
regulus said:
Yep. I find them thoroughly uninteresting apart from Harry who seems like he couldn't give a toss about all the pomp and procedure. Will seems to be a balding boring ugly like his old man whilst the media is desperate for a new Diana in Middleton to sell to the unwashed.

Sad on the death of the nurse. I'd venture that the radio station is part to blame but nobody could've predicted this result. Though I'd say that nurse had major issues too to reach for suicide. Shoulda left it. With our media she would've been naked in 'the jungle' next year. Cut a cd, shag a footballer, bring out a book about her life and done a week of Big Bro 'celebrity'.
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Ye they're are just media whores who i personally couldnt give two ***** about. No Disguised Swearing

On the nurse, yes its a shame but the pranksters shouldn't get fired, a lot of radio stations do pranks.....they didnt know she was going to top her self.
 
Obviously the people at the radio station didn't think it would go this far. However, it was still an incredibly inconsiderate thing to do.

There's a massive difference between phoning someone up and pretending to be Doctor Who and trying to get someone to divulge confidential information. The latter has obvious consequences for the victim's professional life.

The phone call was prerecorded so the radio station had plenty of time to sit and think about the impact that this could have on the nurse's lives. It had the potential to get them in a lot of trouble at work but they decided that a few cheap laughs and a **** load of publicity was more important. For the station's spokeswoman to label it as "a harmless prank" is laughable.
 
Gaygle said:
Whilst it is absolutely awful that the nurse committed suicide and has left behind 2 kids etc, i can't help but thinking the DJ's aren't to blame. The number of prank calls i've heard on the radio over the years on Scott Mills, Chris Moyles, Capital, Heart, Kiss etc etc that have all ended in everyone having a good laugh. This prank call wasn't malicious like the one that Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross did, it was just a bit of larking around on the phone. Then think about all the jokes that comedians, like Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, tell about people (Rebecca Adlington, Jordan, Dawn French etc etc). None of them have committed suicide even though the comments were far more "hurtful" than a light hearted prank call.
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I think you'll find that when a responsible station is involved, the people who have been 'pranked' have given their permission for the calls to be aired. Funny phone calls have been around for years, Noel Edmunds used to do them on his breakfast show a long time ago, I know someone who received a call from him and he had to give his permission for it to be played. That clearly wasn't the case here.
 
mrjagga said:
On the nurse, yes its a shame but the pranksters shouldn't get fired, a lot of radio stations do pranks.....they didnt know she was going to top her self.
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that's irrelevant, if they get fired its going to be down to commercial reasons... if the nurse hadn't committed suicide then this same act might well have increased their listeners, increased the station's income and they'd have got more fame/money etc... in-spite of it being a bit controversial - the suicide has changed it from being a bit controversial to public opinion swaying very much against them.

Their job relies on them being popular, people wanting to listen to them and advertisers being prepared to pay $$$... If the public backlash continues against them then the show isn't feasible and of course they should lose their job - if they're incapable of attracting listeners and advertising because their image is ****ed and the public still hate them then it isn't feasible to employ them - that is the nature of their job.
 
I think judging from the posts in this thread that most people haven't got a clue about the professional responsibilities held by nurses both in their duty of care to their patents but also the Royal College of Nursing. Therefore, it's a bit harsh to expect two Australians to consider that their call may have ended in disciplinary action. However, they are effectively playing with something they would have know was 'wrong' and sometimes whether intended or not it can backfire on you when viewed by the public. They were happy to take the plaudits when it looked good - so they should accept the responsibility when it goes bad.

It is unfair to completely blame the nurse but she did disclose confidential information. It would however be pertinent to see if sufficient training was given to her by the hospital in regards to such calls and whether there was sufficient protocols in place to prevent these very events.

As with all unfortunate events in hospitals then this would have and should have been risk managed and the incident examined. Most likely they will find protocols were not clear or adhered to, training not as clear as it may have been, staff pressured beyond usual, etc all the things you normally find. They will also accept that the incident itself was minor and caused no harm but they will also consider that the incident had the potential to be exceedingly damaging for the hospital. They will also maybe consider how they support staff and whether they could have done things differently.

That is not to say people shouldn't be disciplined by their employers or professional bodies just that whilst those things are ongoing or potentially ongoing then the fact you are dealing with a real person with feeling and emotions (which may have consequences) should be considered at all times.
 
Redz said:
The latter is also a crime; It's a crime to recklessly divulge medical records under the Data Protection Act.
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You are of course correct. You do have to wonder about the level of training the staff were given. It was a massive part of my training back when I worked in a call centre.

Also, the nurse that killed herself didn't give out any information. She transferred the call.
 
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I think in some ways the British media are also to blame for this poor ladies death.

They went far too overboard (as with most royal reporting) with the whole pregnancy/ hospital story.
 
Xordium said:
It is unfair to completely blame the nurse but she did disclose confidential information. It would however be pertinent to see if sufficient training was given to her by the hospital in regards to such calls and whether there was sufficient protocols in place to prevent these very events.
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No she didn't, all she did was answer the phone and transfer the call.
 
Stokesy said:
You are of course correct. You do have to wonder about the level of training the staff were given.
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Not to mention wonder about the accuracy of the legal advice the DJs were given before they played the prank. To prank someone into committing an offence could come under the law of incitement, a felony offence under Australian law.
 
Xordium said:
I think judging from the posts in this thread that most people haven't got a clue about the professional responsibilities held by nurses both in their duty of care to their patents but also the Royal College of Nursing.

That is not to say people shouldn't be disciplined by their employers or professional bodies just that whilst those things are ongoing or potentially ongoing then the fact you are dealing with a real person with feeling and emotions (which may have consequences) should be considered at all times.
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You do realise that the Royal College of Nursing isn't the governing body, it's a union. The Nursing and Midwifery Counsel (NMC) are the governing body.

My opinion on this and where blame should/could be placed:

From the dj's perspective; not enough thought was put into the prank, if they got connected and they did get information surely that was going to cause havoc, and surely impersonating someone to obtain information is breaking some kind of law. Prank calls have been funny in the past this ne wasn't planned well at all and when the team was think tanking its ideas this should have been binned. Also everyone knows that you don't stress out women in the sub 12 weeks period of pregnancy....it's a no go area as far I'm concerned as so much can go wrong.

From the hospitals point of view: well what where they playing at, it's so simple to have a pass word set up and thus telephone communication is verified. Why wasn't there a media screening system in place.

From the nurses point of view: people in a caring profession are really proud of what they offer and really susceptible to criticism, I can see why she has committed suicide and I can also see why she said what she said. She was on a night shift, was told the queen was on the line and well....

The royal family have Been very gracious even before she commented suicide saying they supported the hospital and haven't complained. That received really good care.


Pranks are fun, but this one was doomed from the start.
 
They obviously did not expect this to be the outcome but regardless that is no excuse. They must now face the consequences.
 
ince said:
They obviously did not expect this to be the outcome but regardless that is no excuse. They must now face the consequences.
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what do you mean by consequences? jail time? 100% no. If they get fired fair enough, i doubt anyone's gonna want to listen to them now anyway.
 
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