The nurse who initially took the prank call by an Australian radio duo and put it through to the Duchess of Cambridge’s hospital room has been found dead after apparently committing suicide.
The Times reports:
William and Kate leaving the hospital before news broke about the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found unconscious at an address near the private Central London hospital at around 9.30am this morning. Paramedics were unable to revive her and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family said tonight that they were “deeply saddened “deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha”.
According to press reports:
Greig said “Oh hello there. Could I please speak to Kate please, my granddaughter.”
Mrs Saldanha replied “Oh yes, just hold on ma’am” and put the presenters through to another duty nurse who was caring for the Duchess.
The duty nurse, who believed she was speaking to the Queen, then gave private information about the Duchess’ medical condition.
The ‘joke’ made global headlines, and now the radio host’s are being widely criticised. However the incident did prompt the hospital to review it’s telephone protocol.
A spokesman for the Royal couple has released the following statement saying that they were “deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha….(and) their thoughts and prayers are with her family at this very sad time”.
SCA, owners of the radio station that broadcast the prank, have released the following statement:
Tim Burrows, the publisher/editor of leading Australian media website Mumbrealla argues that the radio duo don’t have blood on their hands over nurse’s suicide. It’s more complicated than that. You can read Tim Burrow’s commentary on Mumbrella in full here and we highly recommend you do.
If this post brings up issues for you, or you just need someone to talk to, please call Lifeline on 131 114. You can also visit the Lifeline website here and the Beyond Blue website here.
Comments
227 Comments so far
It is always a tragic thing when somebody takes their own life! And I feel for her family!!! BUT blaming the D.J’s for this is un acceptable the radio station has been doing this for years and a lot of the pranks are halarious, no one could have foreseen this event. The hospital staff were the last people to see her and even they did not foresee her committing suicide (THEY ARE TRAINED TO KNOW DEPRESSION) yes it went too far but it would have blown over if it was not for the hypocritical pomme media laying accusations about the damage that was coursed and the retaliation that may follow…
AUSTRALIANS are great people and yes we do love a good joke! What happened was not the fault of the prank it was the fault of how far the leeching pomme media took it! The two D.J’s now have to live with this tragedy on their conciences until they die and that is not fair on anyone.. She killed HERSELF
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It was a reasonably harmless (if ill thought through prank). However, the faux horror of the British tabloid press ‘The Palace will want answers, there will be fireworks’ etc is what will have sent that nurse over the edge. A normal (possibly fragile) woman in a caring profession vs the vitriol of Daily Mail hacks is an un fair fight. Blood on the newspapers hands, not the DJs
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Everyone needs to take a deep breath. Someone who is feeling happy and settled does not commit suicide over something as small as putting a call through. Someone who is already suicidal, in pain and contemplating death, perhaps this is just the straw that broke the camels back but it is not the cause. This completely unbalanced witch hunt is ridiculous. It was a prank, it was funny in so much the accents were terrible it was so obviously a prank!! I even though the nurse in the phone might be playing along.
This has to stop. As a nurse this woman would have seen and experienced far worse, more traumatic things in a daily basis, perhaps this is why she suicided??? It was not putting through a call. It absolutely was not.
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she was of Indian descent. All her family live in India. She felt she had bought shame upon the family. She felt the pain, humiliation and shame she was feeling, BECUASE of this stupid prank phone call, was too much to bear.
Having the worlds glaring spotlight put on you, as well as all the negative comments that were swirling around, might be “small” to you, but it obviously wasn’t for her. I’ve said it before, if they hadn’t made a prank call to the hospital, she would be alive today. What kind of moron thinks it’s funny to prank call hospitals where people are sick anyway? Do you know the radio dj’s have already sold their story. Shameful behaviour all the way!
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I’m sorry, but you do not KNOW that. Perhaps it is is true, more than likely there were other factors at play. You should not make assumptions about what someone was feeling or thinking, especially when you do not know them, have never met them and only know information about them through the prism of the press.
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I’m sorry, but HER family said that. It was on the BBC news when they were interviewing the family on what had happened, and why she may of done what she did.
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“It was a prank, it was funny in so much the accents were terrible it was so obviously a prank!!”
People keep saying this but clearly it wasn’t obvious to at least two nurses – and theirs are the only views that matter.
They weren’t listening to this on the radio, where it was announced as a prank call. They weren’t hearing it on any of the hundreds of media where it was replayed – as a prank call. They were at work, at 5:30am, on the other side of the world and they answered a phone call – in a hospital.
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I can’t believe how far this has gone. People are ridiculous. Pretty sure Kate being photographed topless was worse than this prank call. People need to give the presenters a break. The woman clearly would have already been troubled, the radio presenters cannot and should not be blamed. It wasn’t bullying! I feel so sorry for the radio presenters… Now they have this suicide weighing on their conscience for the rest of their lives. Give them a f**king break!!!!
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How they could have done this and not thought about the consequences of their actions sickens me.I believe it is not entirely the fault of the announcers; blame also lies with anyone that had anything to do with this making it to air. However, the statements that it is ‘just part of the Australian culture’ and a ‘harmless prank with an unforseeable tragic outcome’ make me outraged. Pranking is not our culture…if it is, what a sad reflection on the Aussie way of life. Pranking in any way has consequences for the victims, and is indeed a form of bullying. What are we teaching our children if they grow up laughing at the expense of others?
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Scenario: Let’s try to ring the hospital where DOC is and pretend to be the Queen.
OMG I can’t believe we made it past the first point of contact!
OMG I can’t believe we spoke to DOC’s nurse
OMG I can’t believe we got a status update on DOC.
Okay can we broadcast this?
Who is going to be affected?
Well DOC of course, her privacy has been violated by our impersonation of her MIL although no information was given that wasn’t of a fairly generic basis.
What about the two people who answered the phones? Ordinary people doing their work, getting ready for Christmas. Completely oblivious.
Well they could get into trouble, they might even lose their jobs, their lives are likely to be put under extreme scrutiny by media vultures like us who will want to out them and ridicule them for being so stupid as to believe our lame impersonations and hold them personally responsible for a major breach of privacy.
But hey they’re the one’s who fell for it. Not our fault. Right? And we’ll be FAMOUS!!
This is moral bankruptcy.
Everyone who had anything to do with this prank being broadcast is culpable. If you take out the tragic end to this, and the consequences of the prank were “just” that these nurses lost there jobs and their professional integrity, that they were followed by the press and their lives put forward for all the world to point at them, would the people responsible for the prank be feeling any remorse today?
Is there a sliding scale of prankdom which decides the point at which something ceases to be funny and becomes damaging?
Who the f are they to make that decision? The lack of consideration for the consequences IS their fault. And for that they deserve to be blamed. They will have to live with this tragic outcome, but I believe everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions.
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Yes it should never have gone to air. The station was obviously only concerned about ratings.
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It should never have been tried.
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The problem with radio station prank calls is the message it sends to our kids. Perhaps you would like to imagine another scenario, one where a student hides a classmate’s pencil case (containing a mobile phone, USB and other treasures). The student hiding the pencil case claims ‘it is all in good fun’. But who decided it was ‘funny’? What about the victim? What message does it convey to them? The perpetrator has the group beside them. They pick a victim to humiliate and the group laughs. But what happens to the owner of the pencil case? They are singled out; separated. They are not ‘in’ on the joke (which in itself can be soul destroying). Added to the disconnection, are the feelings of anguish they are forced to endure. If the victim becomes angry or upset, the group, led by the perpetrator, derides them for not ‘taking a joke’. The victim withdraws, often vowing to regain power by playing the same prank upon another. This is bullying at its most insidious and, as The Big Bang Theory, The Spekerman Recurrence (season 5 episode 11) highlights, often the person doing the bullying is not aware they are a bully. The bully simply believes they have committed a harmless prank. Why, because pranking is often legitimised in our culture.
I have written more about this, if you would like to read it visit isthismystory.com and check the blog.
Please, when you think about this issue, think of your children and what they are learning.
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The entire situation is deplorable. Ignore the fact it was a royal in hospital – what is funny about ringing a hospital and trying to gather private information for laughs? What is so funny about that?
Our society is one where we tend to act without thought for consequences -perhaps this episode will make people think differently from now. You NEVER know what the person on the other end of your jokes, etc is experiencing.
Poor Kate and William. The week they were forced to make an announcement about their pregnancy and the week has ended with the death of this woman. Talk about stressful. Just what a person in her situation needs. Lets just hope the DOC doesn’t have a miscarriage.
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I think it’s also really sad that they were forced to make an announcement. Public persona or not, everyone has a right to privacy and should be able to seek hospital treatment without having to let the whole works know
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Although the DJ’s couldn’t foresee how their childish prank (so common in Australia radio sadly) could lead to an innocent person’s suicide, any REASONABLE PERSON could’ve foreseen that calling the hospital where one of the most photographed women in the world (currently), who is married to the son of the previously most photographed woman in the world, to seek out personal information about the uterus that is currently home to a future K or Q of the most talk about royal family in the world, WOULD CREATE A MASSIVE PROBLEM for everyone caught up in their prank. Bloody idiots. Aussie tabloid radio needs a good kick up the backside. Listening to the CEO saying “we didn’t break any laws” line made me feel sick. You did break some laws – the laws of moral decency. I hope the watchdogs go nuts on shock jocks and radio DJ’s who think they’re too cool for school – enough is enough. Find your moral compass please because the current status quo of “tabloid” media shows a complete lack of empathy or consideration for others.
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As an Australian living in the USA I want to comment that it is not just Australian radio that enjoys childish pranks and gimmicks – that seems to be international.
It will be interesting to see what ACMA has to say, i think there needs to be a pretty major overhaul in the media rules and regulations, which seem still outdated for this day and age. What i wonder is, isn’t it illegal to record someone without letting them know? How is this legal in radio journalism but in no other field??
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The hardest laugh I have ever had was at an (innocent) prank call on B105 on my way to work many years ago. No harm was intended nor done, but it was entertaining, funny and well within acceptable limits of such calls. I cried with laughter. I normally hate prank calls, and cringe and change to 612 when they come on! but they do have their place – but like most things popular are way overdone and obviously like Chaser, every dj (or producer) tries to outdo the last prank thrill. I do not think there was EVER an expectation that they would actually make it all the way through to the private nurse – when they did, perhaps then the producers should have chosen to pull the segment. There are no winners here, and poor Kate & Wills now will have this to deal with along with relentless media pursuing of their next 28 weeks of pregnancy. its all just a horrid shame and tragedy for all involved.
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One of the differences between the story you relate and this one I’d that I’m sure the target was in Australia and therefore the station was legally obligated to seek their permission to air the call. Apparently, when the victim is overseas, the station is not beholden to that legal obligation.
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It’s a rule that might have made a bit of sense 20-30 years ago. It will probably take the authorities years to realise the world is shrinking and that nothing is just local any longer.
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The DJ’s did make a mistake, a mistake that dominoed into the suicide of a woman. But the lawyer/s and possibly management vetted the material and allowed it to go to air. Someone (the DJs or their producers) had enough sense to get advice and approval so the chain doesn’t end with the DJ’s. I find the hypocracy sickening – I wish people had been so up in arms when Kyle Sanderland had the 14 year old rape victim on the lie detector. He didn’t press the “stop” button on that and lived to tell another day. If 2Day FM sack the 2 DJs who made the prank call, then Kyle has to go too. End of story.
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As an ex Mamamia reader, I couldn’t help but have a look at what had been put up on this site regarding this tragic story. Knowing that Mamamia has a show on Austereo, I am not surprised at all to see not much more than an advertisement/pr smooth over to try and defend the station. Mia, had this been Alan Jones, would you still hold the same opinion that it’s not the fault of the prank caller? I highly doubt it.
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At the end of the day “gotcha” calls are commonplace all around the world. Also if the worst case scenario was that they got Kate on the phone then what’s the real drama. Should she really be any more special than average joe who has been pranked by his mates by sooooo many radio stations in the past? There are way worse atrocities in the world today. It is a sad and tragic passing of the nurse involved but to crucify the radio announcers in a ” there but for the grace” situation many other media folk could find themselves in is unjust.
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I think it’s bad taste to prank anyone when they’re sick in hospital. Doesn’t matter who they are
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Can I respectfully ask that Mamamia change the photo accompanying this story? That quite beautiful photo of the glowing parents-to-be is incongruous with the story or the headline: “British nurse who took royal prank call found dead.”
It is bad enough that this happy moment will be marred forever for them. The story is about the consequences of practical jokes, not the royals.
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i heard the prank on the radio it seemed harmless but a bit surprising that a Australian radio station could even get thought to the ward that Kate was in
.i believe that the royal are just people this proves it something else must of got to the nurse or someone we have become a crule world to live in .
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People who are intensely shy and get embarrassed easily can be traumatised by a prank like that. It is the way of some Australians to ‘joke’ around at other’s expense. We use to have the classic work bully-prank jokester that is now seen as a bully. Now we need to send this prankster the same way and make it unacceptable to do this. These two who did this should not be persecuted, it’s only because it’s such a high profile case that it seems like they are just so bloody awful. They are just an example of what has been happening for years. Thousands of people would have felt like Jacinta did. It does not mean that they would kill themselves over it, but it is the essence of that that is the problem for us all.
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Terrible what happened to that nurse, but I’m not sure if the prank call can be blamed for her suicide.
The other thing though that I don’t understand is why now those two radio presenters are being stood down. While it may have been their idea to do the prank call, at the end of the day, there are producers of that show who I suppose approve or disapprove what goes on air, right?
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It’s always easier to blame the victim than suggest the perpetrator should take responsibility for the consequence of their actions.
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I want to know why the presenters and Austereo aren’t being charged with impersonating someone to obtain information.
Plus I thought these calls had to have the ok from whoever is being pranked before airing??
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You only need permission if the target is in Australia. Anyone else is fair game
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The show was pre-recorded and management still decided to go ahead. If I can consider a worst case scenario of the nurse/s getting the sack surely they would have as well. The phone call should not have been aired, and now we have an even worse scenario (
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You know what? public mockery is horrific. It is so deeply humiliating to already have a low self esteem, and then to be laughed at, or felt like a fool. I know that those radio presenters did not mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, but can people (certain parts of the radio media) just stop dumbing every damn thing down and really have a think before doing stupid shit just for a laugh at another’s expense? What are we? A bunch of morons?
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Um, Mamamia? You’re the ones with a contract with Austereo. Going to tear that up now we have YET ANOTHER example of their digesting gutter ethics ‘entertainment’. Your show is on the same network. Doesn’t that present some conflict of interest as you say how repellent you find this whole sorry case.
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Hi Madeleine,
No, this is not going to affect our partnership with Southern Cross Austereo.
This is an awful situation, a shocking event and a terrible tragedy.
But as I’ve said in my comment below, calm heads need to prevail.
Certainly, questions are being asked – and answered – about the circumstances around what has happened and no doubt we are about to have an important societal debate about the boundaries of comedy, prank calls and the impact of social media when it comes to amplifying the potential consequences of any situation or breach of privacy.
There has forever been a willing and receptive audience for prank call comedy and there are very few FM radio stations who don’t do it. It’s been going on for decades.
What’s changed is social media and the Internet and like so many things, it’s clearly time to re-draw our boundaries and values as a society.
This is not simply an issue confined to Austereo. It’s industry wide. Globally.
But – like Jeff Kennett from Beyond Blue and many others – I am standing up for the presenters involved who couldn’t possibly have foreseen the consequences of their actions.
I now worry for their mental health and safety and while I can appreciate the desire to cast blame, I do not believe that it’s constructive for anyone right now.
And I would be saying all of the above, regardless of where Mamamia Today was broadcast. Because it’s what I sincerely and genuinely believe.
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I agree– I really feel for those radio presenters. A terrible life changing event has spun out of light hearted comedy and empathy is all I can feel for anyone involved – for the hospital, the media , the royal amily, her family. Everyone’s life altered by actions that can never be undone.
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Mia – why then was my first comment that was very damning of the Austereo network not
shown, yet subsequent post which was less critical posted? Seems you are keen not no be seen biting the hand that feeds.
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Sure, prank calls have been going on years, but to prank call a hospital when someone’s sick? Seriously bad taste at the very least. What next a fire station, ambulance?
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“There has forever been a willing and receptive audience for prank call comedy and there are very few FM radio stations who don’t do it. It’s been going on for decades.”
There has forever been a willing and receptive audience for kiddie porn. It’s been going on for decades.
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Is it really suitable for us, as strangers to the deceased woman, to be speculating about her mental health?
Fact is, none of us know about her ‘underlying issues’, ‘poor woman was already deeply depressed’ or the ‘very very long list of heavy and awful things and feelings this poor woman was experiencing’ (quotes taken from comments below). Let this woman rest in peace.
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MM – what’s happening with the mods? I realise you pre-moderate every comment but 5 hours between posting a comment and it appearing on the feed is too long. A dinner table conversation is at its best when the comments are timely. Nothing worse than someone banging on about a topic over dessert when the original conversation started back at canapés.
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Hi Forty Cents,
We’ve been moderating comments all day. According to timecodes, your comments were left less than an hour before they were published. Things do slow down with our moderating on weekend evenings as everyone (selfishly!) wants to have a social life!
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Thanks Mia! A comment I posted at 2pm still hasn’t appeared – thus my query. But it looks like it might be a glitch and not the mods. It’s not selfish at all to want a social life. Why would you say that?
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Or not appearing at all. I tried three times to respond to someone who addressed me directly but none of them showed up.
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This is such shocking, heartbreaking news.
So sad.
Why do we not think about how our actions are going to affect other people?
Why were these DJs so selfish!
No one knows what was going on in this poor nurse’s life…she may have had many personal/family issues (like most of us do to varying degrees) – then to experience this world wide humiliation might have been too much.
We have all made mistakes at work….or been on the other end of pranks…we don’t need the whole world to see it and make us feel worse.
Everyone reacts to things differently.
We really need to stop and think before we do things for laughs, popularity money or power. Especially the media.
And the poor duchess – as if she doesn’t have enough to deal with her condition during pregnancy and being in the constant media limelight. Pregnancy is a time filled with anxiety and physical discomfort…to add to that stress knowing that this wonderful nurse who had helped you in hospital has died must be pretty bad. I really feel for her. I just hope the media/radio stations can learn from this.
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Prank calls – funny to some, not to others, but surely before any of this can be aired in public, you MUST get the permission of the person who has been the victim. Otherwise they are exactly that. A victim. And any consequence that occurs from that point on is the fault of the people that caused it. And not just the presenters, but their employers, particularly those that put them up to it, and particularly the CEO with his “I don’t think we’ve done anything illegal here” attitude. More interested in covering his arse than genuinely about the victims. If he was sincere, he should be handing in his resignation, just as the Director General of the BBC did.
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the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Commercial Radio Code of Practice ( September 2011) states:
“A licensee must not broadcast the words of an identifiable person unless:
a) That person has been informed in advance or a reasonable person would be aware that the words may be broadcast
b) In the case of words which have been recorded without the knowledge of that person, that person has subsequently, but prior to the broadcast, expressed consent to the broadcast of their words.”
Permission should have been sought.
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See this is what I had assumed! But maybe since neither of the nurses names were revealed they didn’t fall under “identifiable”? That’s the only thing I can think of that would make broadcasting this call legal.
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Hi beans, I think someone is identifiable if they are at a specific place of work at a specific time. Wouldn’t be too hard for media to track them down. I think a recording of someone “on the street” , a caller to the station or a passing motorist etc would fit the non identifiable category.
I wonder if this is a self regulatory thing and not actually a legal requirement.
What happened to your post about this from yesterday? I posted the Code of Practice in reply to your post then.
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Unfortunately not everyone is up to being the butt of a puerile shock jocks antics, especially if your a mother alone, working along way from home and family, that takes her career very seriously, who is quoted as being ‘a very nerves lady’, the world to some people isn’t one big juvenile laugh, we’re not all thick skinned 20 somethings walking on the sunny side of the street without a care in the world, they (the DJ’s) liked playing with the flame of controversy, and they’ve been burnt, actions = consequences, let it be a lesson to all empty headed morons that think having a laugh at another’s expense is victimless.
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I had a disagreement on FB over this story today…. because I do not believe that this prank call was a form of bullying and I don’t believe the radio presenters should be made to feel responsible. The station’s producers should have thought twice about the repercussions of broadcasting the call, and the hospital should have stronger protocol and trained their staff appropriately for inevitable enquiries about the duchess – they made a very big mistake.
The radio’s presenters could not have possibly predicted this outcome. The call may have been tasteless and they should have thought twice about if it was within their control to make those decisions, but crucifying them, in my opinion is counter productive.
I also voiced my opinion that classifying prank calls as bullying minimises and trivialises actual bullying when it happens and i think we need to be more careful about applying this tag. Bullying is generally habitual behaviour, not a one off tasteless piece of humour gone wrong.
Evidently my opinion was not popular. But suicide is a serious matter and I choose to treat is the complex issue that it is, rather than play the blame game.
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They couldn’t have predicted the outcome, I agree. However I think they could have reasonably expected that the nurses involved would be exposed to stress, ridicule and the possibilty of losing their jobs. All perfectly valid moral reasons not to proceed.
The fact that the outcome was much worse than they could have predicted shouldn’t detract from the fact that the minimum effect was still morally bankrupt.
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My point though, is that the presenters did not make the choice to broadcast the call. These two presenters were very inexperienced – it is 2dayfms responsibility to make ethical decisions about these things. The presenters did as they were instructed by the stations producers. They will feel guilty enough without being labelled as murderers.
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They may not be responsible for choosing to air the call. There is indeed multiple points of failure in the decision that unlocked this chain of events.
This did not stop one of the presenters from bragging and publicising the call on his personal twitter account after his “apology” for any harm.
They indeed played a role in this.
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Then the presenters need to lawyer up and sue the management for forcing them to participate in a morally-bankrupt prank.
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Bullying is generally a habitual behaviour, and this radio station and others like it that pull these stupid stunts, prank calls, have done it more than once. They find it funny to humiliate people on air repeatedly. They are responsible for the consequences of their actions, like the rest of us in the real world. I don’t understand why some people are finding it hard to put two and two together. If they hadn’t done it – she’d be alive today. pretty simple in my book.
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No. Nobody can claim that Jacintha would be alive if the call hadn’t been made. Nobody knows what she was going through or what she was thinking before her final act of desperation.
The DJs picked up the phone, probably under instruction from the station’s producers. From there, a domino effect occurred – the DJs would have zero control over the producers decision to broadcast the call, or the global media who went into a frenzy over it, or the hospital’s response to the apparent appalling lack of security that had been exposed, or her colleagues and friends and strangers, or her previous life stresses and traumas….
This is a very tragic event, but pinning it on the two radio kids who had been in their jobs for about 5 minutes and did nothing more than pick up the phone and pretend to be the queen and prince in the worst accents I’ve ever heard, is CRUEL.
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You know what’s cruel, Two little kids have to spend Christmas without their mother. That’s cruel. If the worlds glaring spotlight hadn’t been pointing at her because of this stupid stunt, causing her obvious humiliation and grief, she’d be going about her business. today. End of story.
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No, sorry, just no. Mental health is an incredibly intricate thing and it is hard to understand the intricacies of someone else’s mental health and depression even when they are your sister or best friend, let alone someone you’ve never met and know only tidbits of information about gleaned from the press. There is no “pure and simple” when it comes to suicide or depression and you cannot lay the blame for these things from your position as a complete stranger.
There is cause to believe that this affected her, yes, but you don’t know if she’d been planning to do this or was on the verge of it for some time and this was just a trigger (as many other things could have been), or other events occurred, or anything really.
Yes it was a silly, thoughtless prank and one that went badly wrong. But this was not malicious or vindictive and I am sick of people equating it to murder. These people did not take out a knife and stab someone.
Yes it is tragic and awful, but pointing “the world’s glaring spotlight” at these two people now and blaming them endlessly does nothing but perpetuate the cycle. You and many others are going on and on about how they should have known that their behavior would cause intense pressure on these nurses and that they are thus responsible for a death. Well what if one of these presenters now commits suicide due to your own pressure? Should we then all point the finger at you? An eye for an eye doesn’t work. Empathy and intelligent measured discussion are much more useful here than hysterical denunciations.
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“there is cause to believe it affected her”. Really!!That’s so obvious even blind Freddy could see it. Seriously, come on now.
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There is ultimately one group of people responsible for this prank call going to air – 2Day FM listeners. Clearly they have an apetite for this trash and Austereo are happy to profit from their hunger.
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I agree that feelings of suicide are often related to a number of circumstances which can cause anxiety and feelings of exclusion.
It is important that the radio announcers have a great deal of support as they have possibly not been previously educated that there could be adverse consequences for some actions as we are never really sure of how someone is feeling.
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I feel for the family, but surely there must have been more going on in her life than just this…who ends their life and leaves their kids motherless due to a bit of embarrasment and humiliation…i’m sorry, it was a prank, she wasn’t in trouble over it..how do u explain that to her kids??
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It was so much more than just “a bit of embarrassment and humiliation”. It was global derision on a massive scale. My friends in London have told me her actions were front page news – on several Fleet Street papers.
Not to mention the Twitterverse, Facebook and I’m sure one or two colleagues raining down on her.
I can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to be the laughing stock of the first world, with my kids getting teased at school, my husband ostracised.
It would be horrific. Yes there are more important issues going on in the world but for this woman, at that moment, there must have seemed no end in sight. A bit of compassion wouldn’t go astray.
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I was deeply upset and horrified when a local paper printer comments from me out of context. I can’t I shine global condemnation- local condemnation was bad enough. I agree with everything in your comment
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Ah yes, but it wasn’t the DJs or their station that did that, it was the hideous British Press. They are notorious for this sort of thing and now they have swung their spotlight on the DJs instead. It is incredibly hypercritical. Look at it this way, the Palace was supportive (so they say), her work was supportive (so they say), the station played an immature, silly, tasteless prank on her but they did not ever release her name or the name of the nurse in the ward who gave out the information on Kate. Something that could have been shrugged off then, don’t you think? So where did all of the pressure on her come from? Why, from the very people who are now harassing the two DJs. It is hypocrisy to the highest degree.
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I think so too. The phone call may have been the final straw but there must have been other stuff going on as well.
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“He was standing on the edge of the cliff, your honour. All I did was push him”.
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Whatever way you look at it, this is a complete and utter tragedy.
I don’t like the concept of ‘prank calls’ (particularly in situations like this, which involve personal information) but there is absolutely no way the radio presenters could reasonably foresee their actions as leading to a suicide. These two radio hosts now have to live with this weight on their shoulders for the rest of their lives, something I don’t envy in the slightest…they must feel terrible and don’t need others making them feel worse.
This poor woman made a mistake, the repercussions of which seem to have tipped her over the edge. It’s sad that she felt this was her only option, particularly since it seems the Royal family weren’t overly annoyed and she appeared to be receiving support from the hospital. I believe there must have been underlying issues and this was just the straw which broke the camel’s back. Nonetheless, a terrible outcome filled with much sadness.
My thoughts are with this woman’s family as well as the radio hosts xx
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I was shocked when I heard the news today. I feel so sorry for her children husband and family and friends.
I thought right from the get go, that the “prank phonecall” was in bad taste. Who thinks it’s funny to ring a hospital when someone is sick, just for a joke. At that time, we had no idea why she was admitted, or how serious the situation was. And now their stupid, thoughtless stunt has backfired, resulting in the tragic death of Jacintha Saldanha.
No one can deny, that if they hadn’t made that call, which resulted in world wide humiliation, she would be alive today.
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To Plain Jane December 8, 2012 at 02:46 pm below. I’ve tried to reply to you but they haven’t shown up. I didn’t have the wrong nurse.
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I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the radio show and the prank are being painted as the cause behind this woman’s death.
Ask yourself, before you blame the radio show and the prank, would YOU kill yourself after such a stupid prank? My guess is that your answer is ‘absolutely freaking no way!’, or ‘It would take a hell of a lot more for me to loose my shit and cap myself!’
I personally think that the prank was just another little thing on a very very long list of heavy and awful things and feelings this poor woman was experiencing.
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Ridiculous? If this lady hadn’t been shoved into the worlds spotlight, laughed at, humiliated, probably reprimanded quite severely, she would be alive today. You have no idea what you would do in her situation at all because not many people are subjected to worldwide public humiliation like she was. No Idea.
I think it’s ridiculous that people can’t put two and two together.
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She wasn’t reprimanded
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Not being a nurse becoming the butt of an international joke after taking a phone call at 5:30am in a London hospital where the most popular woman in the world is currently undergoing treatment, I’m not qualified to answer your question.
Clearly you are more experienced in these matters so perhaps you can explain how you would have dealt with it.
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What about the media who have created a whirlwind out of a prank phone call? Why should all the attention be place on the radio DJ’s? It’s a tragic event. There are so many Factors in this sad chain of events.
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Yep. There were a lot of people, including here at Mamamia, who showed absolutely no empathy for the victims in this incident. Many still aren’t showing empathy and so she’s now not just stupid but must have been mentally ill too.
Sad.
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It’s a terrible story for all involved. I feel so much sorrow for those two radio hosts and their team because now they will forever have this haunting them.
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The CEO did not appear to be “haunted”, he appeared as such:
“…our thoughts are with the family… we are not wrong…I don’t think we should be discussing this…we are not wrong…there is no point in jumping to conclusions… we are not wrong…the presenters are human beings (have social awareness even though they perpetrated this)…we are not wrong.”
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Save your sorrow for the family of a lady who was humiliated globally by the two DJ’s
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And so they should. Their behaviour was disgraceful and totally against the expectations laid out in the public broadcasting Code of Conduct. No sympathy from me.
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Sammy, your comment reads like that old joke in which two social workers, upon finding a bashed and robbed old lady lying by the road, walk by saying “the person who did that really needs our help”.
Unfortunately your view is widespread throughout the Australian media too.
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I imagine this woman took her job very seriously. She no doubt felt that she had let down the entire royal family. This is something many of us possibly could never understand. I hope that this public pranking stops. There are many more ways to be entertained and if we as a society rely on Radio jocks to entertain us this way then shame on us. I for one, would be furious if some-one tried this when my daughter was lying in a hospital bed trying to recover.
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Bullying? Absolutely not. It was just a prank. Jacintha wasn’t targeted in any way.
The suicide is horrific, but it’s the wrong thing to do to lay this at the radio hosts’ door.
That’s bullying in itself.
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she was targeted though. She was made the butt of the joke. There are always victims in these so called harmless stunts. They should of realised that whoever answered the call would be humiliated eventually, because that’s their aim, To humiliate their victim publicly. Juvinile morons, that should have to now face up to the consequences of their actions. They are bullies, they repeatedly do these stupid pranks on unsuspecting people.
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I immediately felt sick when I heard this, especially when the worst outcome I had thought would happen is that the nurse might be sacked.
I am feeling so sorry for everyone who has now been touched by this tragedy. There is no point in crucifying the DJs – yep, they made a stupid mistake that has ended up in the loss of someones life and they are going to have to live with that for the rest of their lives (just like those of us who drink and drive and end up killing someone in an accident). I think that is probably enough to be going on with, without people saying ‘you have blood on your hands’. Don’t people realize that this could actually push the DJs into a depressive state themselves and even further tragedy could occur?? Why not try and support them through this. Chances are they may not want to return to radio ever again anyway.
I really feel for Kate and Wills too. In a time of what is supposed to be happiness, their joy has been tainted with grief.
RIP Jacintha.
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I know this is an unpopular view atm but I feel so bad for the DJs. Surely they too must be in a state of shock and grief now too. This has spun way out of control. So where are all the ppl who thought it was funny? In all honesty I for one had a chuckle and was totally shocked and saddened by the news this mornibg. But to turn on the DJs and in a sense ‘bully’ them would be totally senseless and hypocritical. I am not a fan of prank calls but I am also not a fan of crucifying someone who meant no harm, no offense and certainly could not foresee such a tragedy.
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I agree with this. There is no way anyone could’ve predicted the way this would play out. The intention of the prank was not to cause harm. I don’t know why people think the appropriate way to react to this situation is to bully the DJs.
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Drunk drivers don’t set out to cause harm either.
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They may have meant no harm but surely anyone would realise that there would be some consequences for the people on the receiving end of the prank. A loss of employment & very public humiliation just for starters. Would you like to be reminded that you were one of the nurses who were tricked into believing you were talking to the Queen for the rest of your life? This kind of thing follows people forever. Think about how much interest there is in the royals and how micro-examined their lives are. Jacintha Saldanha played such a minor role, yet her name was bandied around the world. Would you like it if it was you?
I have no doubt the DJs never imagined that this would be the result, but they were the instigators of a stupid prank that contributed to someone feeling the only answer was to take their own life. It may have only been a minor factor, we don’t know, but now her family will have to deal with her loss forever.
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Anyone could have forseen though that the nurses would possibly lose their jobs and be publicly humiliated.
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I’ve had this conversation already today and this is what I feel.
Pranking someone on radio is not new, it’s been going on for a very long time. Think ‘war of the worlds’ fiasco. But this wasn’t any ordinary prank, it involved the Royal Family in a week where every newscaster wanted some kind of scoop. So instead of this prank remaining local to the radio stations listeners it went world wide and became main stream news in just about every english speaking country.
While most of the news were saying that the radio station and it’s hosts had done the wrong thing who knows what others had said. Who knows what internet websites and forums said about this nurse who answered the phone? Who knows what people she had dealings with said to her afterwards? Who knows what embarrassment she felt on a grand scale, what would you do if you were being laughed at on a world wide level?
I agree that she may have had other problems in her life that led her to end it, but this could have been the thing that tipped her over the edge. Ordinary people are not equipped to be thrust into the limelight in such a manic way. Some people can handle that, others are more fragile, have experienced different values and circumstances in life. We can’t judge anyone else’s life or decisions because we haven’t walked in their shoes. So when someone decides to get laughs by publicly humiliating another person they better be aware that the person who is the brunt of the joke might not actually think it is funny and might not be able to cope with the jokes, laughter and humiliation. That person might not be like you or me.
I feel really bad about this situation, I know a lot of people are defending the radio station but ultimately if they hadn’t embarrassed this woman she would most likely still be alive today, and that will be something they have to live with for the rest of their lives. Bullying is bullying, no matter how you try to pretty it up.
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I agree with almost everything you said, but I don’t think this can be classed as bullying. Bullying by the media maybe, though I didn’t see much of it myself. Even in the UK press, who are usually brutal. But I do not believe the pranksters meant harm in any way. So I can’t jump on that bandwagon.
It was reported that even Prince Charles was amused by the prank, when he quipped to a reporter, ‘How do you know I’m not a radio station?’, outside an event yesterday. So before today we have to remember it wasn’t the end of the world scenario it is now, it was just a prank call.
The truth is, we don’t know what happened to her or why, yet – but today is a very shocking day and people are reacting.
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It would seem by the comments below, that most people think prank calls are stupid and cringeworthy and lots change the channel when they are on, so why do the stations continue to do them?
If most think they are stupid then how are these things getting ratings? Radio stations don’t do anything unless it rates so there must be a market for it.
Personally I hate them and always change the channel if one is about to be done.
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Although there would be some crossover, the MM audience is probably not the target audience of that particular radio program. So, you’ve got a lot of people here saying the prank was stupid and not funny, but the target audience of the program may have thought otherwise.
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Yup the lowest common denominator.
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Bottom line … this prank call was not clever or funny … Simply dumb and now unfortunately tragic.
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I’m a little surprised to not hear anything about protocol. Surely the hospital should have some kind of procedure in place for dealing with inquiries about a famous/royal patient? It feels like the hospital may have also let the woman down by not being prepared.
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Exactly.
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I have worked at this hospital as an agency worker & I don’t believe for a minute that the middle management were not giving her a hard time… There are busy bodies looking over your shoulder there with too much time on their hands & i watched insanity when they had another lesser famous royal come into the hospital for a half an hr visit- they prepared for days before & set up 5 types of water, silver trays, drawing blinds and I was locked in a room with a patient to ensure I didn’t ‘run’ into the royal. This prank would have mortified them and I don’t think the DJ’s are fully responsible for something that should have been a bit of a laugh, I only hope the truth comes out about what she may have been going through- at work & otherwise…
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I am hoping the loss of this poor woman is a turning point for the bullies in the media. Can you imagine the suffering of her the last few days?
Lets aim for victimless humour – it’s one thing to be offended for your entire race or gender, but when you are the sole ‘fool’ in a worldwide scandal, there are not too many people with the strength to withstand that without significant damage. Of course the two DJs are now going to recieve much more punishment than they deserve for a stupid joke – but lets assume that everytime you make someone the butt of your joke that they are suffering something else in their life, which makes this unfortunate outcome a distinct possiblity.
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Good points
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A bully is a bully is a bully. A prank call pretending to be someone you’re not is unacceptable for the general public so why is it suddenly ‘funny’ when on radio? Your actions have consequences…
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Let’s call a spade a spade here. The aim of the DJ’s at the centre of this storm was to be entertaining. Prank calls are made to cause the call taker some sort of embarassment.
There is nothing entertaining about embarassing someone.
Who’s sorry now ?
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Well said Bradley. People don’t realise the effect their actions can have on others. Of course, I don’t know this nurse at all, but can I say that nurses can be quite prone to depression, as they are constantly dealing with people in crisis. I think the statistics are 1 in 2, as opposed to 1 in 5 of the general population, and I would guess that this nurse took her job very seriously, and was devastated at what happened.
I am totally disgusted at Australian radio, it seems to be sinking lower and lower lately. Before this tragedy, I was listening to a commercial radio station in Perth and had my 3 kids in the car. The joke that day was the female dj (won’t name anyone) was about to give a listener a Brazillian. “Oh, your vajay jay is going to look amazing!” I just do not wish to listen to this garbage, particularly with my children in the car. I find it revolting. Over to abc!, at least they have some common decency, and intelligent conversation.
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“People don’t realise the effect their actions can have on others”
I think the radio station could have reasonably predicted the effect on the nurses would have been very bad, if not tragic. They’re not new at this game, they clearly have form, and plenty of “people on the street” expressed concern before Saturday’s tragic news (read comments on mamamia’s initial article promoting the prank). So it’s hard to imagine seasoned media people couldn’t foresee problems.
What appears more likely is that they don’t consider the fallout to be their responsibility. They are only there to entertain their audience and profit from it. Consequences are for others to deal with.
Even now they appear to take no responsibility and are hiding behind the defence of “it wasn’t illegal”. They’ll likely do it again if they aren’t shut down. It’s what they do.
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maybe, but it was her coice to end her life and leave 2 children motherless because of a prank. I’m sorry, it’s ridiculous and weak.
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Suicide is not ‘ridiculous or weak.’ Perhaps a more appropriate description of the prank callers, though.
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I don’t think we can say suicide is or isn’t anything. Different people have different reasons for doing things and unless they leave an explanation (note or something) we can only guess what they were thinking. Maybe her reasons were ‘ridiculous and weak’, maybe they weren’t, we don’t know.
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Ever heard the term ‘mitigating circumstances’, lynz?
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I was on the phone to my brother as I was casually checking facebook and burst into tears when I came across this article.
I completely agree that whilst this prank was poor form to begin with, what began as a week of world elation at the news of the pregnancy has now turned into a catastrophe and the beginning of a media witch hunt.
My thought are with everyone concerned including the radio hosts.
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If the prank was pre recorded why in the hell did the producers even agree to play it? Surely they would have known it was going to cause some sort of problems for the nurses in question.
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I want to add that sometimes there are more important things than ratings.
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Terrible terrible news. This is what happens when people act without thought to the consequences of their actions. While the radio hosts who pulled the prank are not directly responsible for what has happened they do bare some responsibility as do the other members of the press who no doubt hounded this poor woman. I thought the prank showed appalling judgement in the first place. It was a terrible invasion of Will and Kate’s privacy. When will the media learn?
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