The cost of cheap laughs

[marsden_online]

Duchess of Cambridge hoax call nurse found dead (BBC)
A London nurse at the centre of a royal phone prank by Australian radio presenters has been found dead (Herald)
Nurse who took Middleton prank call found dead (Stuff)

Something which the BBC article reports which the others do not (at time of typing*) is that this was apparently not the nurse who gave information to the presenters.

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said he understood Mrs Saldanha - who was staying in hospital accommodation close to King Edward VII hospital - was the person who answered the call from the Australian DJs and was not the nurse who discussed the duchess's medical condition.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian had said they were "very sorry if we've caused any issues"
Mrs Saldanha, a duty nurse who was married with two children, answered the telephone because it was 05:30 GMT and there was no receptionist on duty.

The BBC understands Mrs Saldanha had not been suspended or disciplined by the hospital.

This backs up my personal theory that the nurse who did give out the information was answering a line which she had every reason to expect had already been vetted.

* [edit: The Herald story has been updated with a more comprehensive version]
* [edit: the Stuff article has eventually been updated, although that fairly important information is relegated to a small paragraph well down the page nearly obscured by an ad]

~~~
While I'm very glad that none of my friends on assorted social-media had the poor taste to share the link to the call my workmates did begin playing it and I immediately had to leave the office and go for a walk. My thoughts then were that this was going to cost the nurse who gave out the information at least one of her
- reputation
- job
- career
- self confidence

all because a couple of jerks with a phone number and an audience wanted to score some points.

(Spare a thought for that nurse at this time because what she is going through just got that much worse.)

It seems that was not a long enough view of the consequences :( I am confident the radio presenters and their manager had no thought of the possible consequences for anyone but themselves and this is an extreme but perfect example of why I absolutely loathe prank situations, especially when perpetuated by the media. In part because the perpetrators feel free to do so knowing they will not suffer the consequences. That I think is a societal issue and I'm glad to see (also only reported in the BBC version) that a public backlash does seem to be occurring - but that will only do any long term good if it is directed against the whole culture of radio station shock jocks and prank calls (and further) rather than just this one incident. Sadly I do not think this incident will bring about any change.

~~~
The death is being treated as a suspected suicide. I personally think it could easily have been an accidental overdose of medication prescribed to help her cope or a heart attack brought on by the stress - but these and other possible explanations in no way reduce the tragedy of the situation. Props to the Herald for including this at the end of their article

If it's an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. Or call Youthline 0800 376 633, Lifeline 0800 543 354, Depression Helpline 0800 111 757, What's Up 0800 942 8787 (noon-midnight).

Comments

radio prank calls and assumptions

[flufmeister.livejournal.com]

None of them thought about what would happen if they got through. Everyone assumed the answerer would pick up on not necessarily obvious clues like the accent, or the fact that the Queen wouldn't ring a place directly- she'd have a security person do it for her. And that they would be vetted somehow- which obviously wasn't in place.
I assume the second nurse would've also assumed that the people calling on that line had been vetted by reception (and thus secure). So a series of minor mistakes occurred. And the rest of the media also reported it widely and may have unwittingly made those two nurses feel publically embarrassed and humiliated. Not to mention the flak from colleagues.
Everyone loves a prank until it becomes serious

[mr-orgue.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent & sensible response to a very sorry situation.

There's a difference, I think, between pranks that empower the target and those that assert power over them. (Thinking for example of that improv everywhere thing where loads of people showed up at a little league game to cheer on a team of kids as if they were world champions.) Also, a difference between a prank within an supportive social context (e.g. workmates who have a mutual understanding and enjoy tricking each other) and outside of that (e.g. those same workmates tricking people they don't know well from elsewhere in the organisation, or worse, people they do know well who don't like their antics).

Almost all radio shock jock stuff, falls squarely in the asserting power over strangers category, and it sucks.