Prank call turned bad

[granfire]

The nurse who fielded the prank call at the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was staying was found dead.

This has now prompted investigations on both ends of the call and the radio personal involved has been put on leave.

I did not read the articles, but it seems one has to assume the poor woman committed suicide?

But even then I am a little baffled as to the reason the investigations popped up.

I mean, the impersonation was pretty bad and the information the nurse passed along did not seem to go past anything the tabloids had not already put forth.

What a terrible thing to evolve from this situation, my heart goes out to the family of the nurse.

 

[Tez3]

This is a big story here. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-found-dead-in-suspected-suicide-8393289.html

My local paper http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...o_their_jobs__out_of_respect__for_dead_nurse/

She was from Mangalore, India, not a native English speaker and couldn't necessarily tell a 'bad' English accent from a good one.
It seems the radio presenters have been warned before about their calls when they tricked a 14 year old girl into confessing she'd been raped.

 

[Dirty Dog]

The press reports do make it seem likely that she killed herself.
I'm going to suggest that it's likely she had a history of psychiatric issues in the past, and this event pushed her over the edge, as it were.
A sad event, no matter what the causes.

 

[arnisador]

There should be some minor punishment to them for trying to get medical info. to which they were not entitled via fraud, but holding them accountable for her death is unfair.

 

[Dirty Dog]

There should be some minor punishment to them for trying to get medical info. to which they were not entitled via fraud, but holding them accountable for her death is unfair.

That's just it. You're talking about not one, but TWO countries, neither of which is the US. What are the confidentiality laws in those countries? I have no idea, personally.

Here in the US, where HIPPA can be more than a little draconian at times, saying "Pt A is here, doing well, and visiting hours are X" isn't a violation. Now, we also offer people the option of being "silent", which means the only response you're likely to get is "WHo? Never heard of them..."

 

[Tez3]

Actually there's three countries involved, Mrs Saldana was Indian, a very different culture from the UK and Australia as well as the US. The British police are involved, there are a number of Parliamentary Acts that give patients strong protection on confidentiality issues. There's laws on Telecommunications as well as the Human Rights Act. It seems Australia has a law on recording people where you must tell them they are being recorded.
The radio station says the broadcasters have 'bad accents' I've read in other articles that they don't in fact have strong accents and do sound English, enough at least to fool an Indian nurse who can speak excellent English as well as understand it but not distinguish accents.

http://news.yahoo.com/australian-radio-chair-station-reviewing-policy-123130219.html

Did she have mental problems? If so we won't know until the inquest, however she may have felt she was going to be up on disciplinary action, facing the loss of her job (which could mean leaving the UK) as well as facing criminal charges, the last was probably unlikely but possible enough to upset someone badly.

The reaction in Australia has been very strong by all accounts against the two presenters, if so they may have trouble finding work as I think the radio station will probably let them go, it doesn't seem the sort of place to stand by them. We'll see.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I understand that she was an Indian national, but do you really think there would be any Indian laws applicable to an event that took place in the UK and Australia?
I've heard the recordings, and while I am not English, I did live there for 4 years and frankly I couldn't tell they weren't English.

 

[granfire]

Actually there's three countries involved, Mrs Saldana was Indian, a very different culture from the UK and Australia as well as the US. The British police are involved, there are a number of Parliamentary Acts that give patients strong protection on confidentiality issues. There's laws on Telecommunications as well as the Human Rights Act. It seems Australia has a law on recording people where you must tell them they are being recorded.
The radio station says the broadcasters have 'bad accents' I've read in other articles that they don't in fact have strong accents and do sound English, enough at least to fool an Indian nurse who can speak excellent English as well as understand it but not distinguish accents.

http://news.yahoo.com/australian-radio-chair-station-reviewing-policy-123130219.html

Did she have mental problems? If so we won't know until the inquest, however she may have felt she was going to be up on disciplinary action, facing the loss of her job (which could mean leaving the UK) as well as facing criminal charges, the last was probably unlikely but possible enough to upset someone badly.

The reaction in Australia has been very strong by all accounts against the two presenters, if so they may have trouble finding work as I think the radio station will probably let them go, it doesn't seem the sort of place to stand by them. We'll see.

Well, those blokes you cooked up this prank, being repeat offenders, need to suffer the consequences.

I did hear the phone call and it really seemed benign as to what the nurse told about the duchess, seemed like the tabloids had that information already in print, as well as the regular media.
Aside from the ridicule she has probably suffered, I find it tragic to lose a life over this.

 

[Tez3]

I understand that she was an Indian national, but do you really think there would be any Indian laws applicable to an event that took place in the UK and Australia?
I've heard the recordings, and while I am not English, I did live there for 4 years and frankly I couldn't tell they weren't English.

No I wasn't meaning as to the laws but that she was an Indian national so if she'd lost her job she would have to leave the country too perhaps without her fmaily as I don't know their status, which could have contributed to her state of mind. I think though that her family could well sue someone, 'who' would be the interesting bit, if they could afford it. The Indian government could also make a diplomatic complaint over it more likely to the Australians rather than the British but maybe both. I can see lawyers in all three countries rubbing their hands as this develops, someone will make a case out of it, probably adding to the family's woes rather than anything good coming of it. It could, I imagine, go to the Court of Human Rights if someone is high flying enough as the Human Rights Act is one of the laws that has been broken by recording her without telling her.

 

[Dirty Dog]

It's certainly true that the only people who will see anything positive in this is the lawyers.

 

[Tez3]

What I do dislike is what I've just seen on the news, the two Australian presenters weeping and wailing on television about being heartbroken etc. It smacks of them trying to save their careers. The station's PR people must be working overtime. I'm sorry but there's no way they are 'heartbroken'. It looks like they are setting up their defence before any legal proceedings come about, it's very distasteful to see them crying on television, a dignified silence after a proper apology would have been better. They look like they think it's all about them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20662358

Also on the news was the nurse's family in India who said she would 'have felt deeply shamed at her mistake in taking the call'.

 

[WC_lun]

I don't think they should be charged in the death of the nurse. They had no way of knowing this would be what set the woman off to commit suicidde. Australia DOES have laws about recording calls when both sides do not know the call is being recorded, though they are rarely enforced. Charge them with breaking those laws. There is a reason for those laws, start enforcing them.

 

[Tez3]

I don't think they should be charged in the death of the nurse. They had no way of knowing this would be what set the woman off to commit suicidde. Australia DOES have laws about recording calls when both sides do not know the call is being recorded, though they are rarely enforced. Charge them with breaking those laws. There is a reason for those laws, start enforcing them.

I agree they shouldn't be charged with the death of the nurse, I also think they should shut up and stay off the air with their wailing. I think the police are still investigating what happened and we haven't had the Coroner's verdict yet so things will be quiet for a while.

 

[granfire]

What I do dislike is what I've just seen on the news, the two Australian presenters weeping and wailing on television about being heartbroken etc. It smacks of them trying to save their careers. The station's PR people must be working overtime. I'm sorry but there's no way they are 'heartbroken'. It looks like they are setting up their defence before any legal proceedings come about, it's very distasteful to see them crying on television, a dignified silence after a proper apology would have been better. They look like they think it's all about them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20662358

Also on the news was the nurse's family in India who said she would 'have felt deeply shamed at her mistake in taking the call'.

I hope that they feel every bit of what they proclaim they do.

They should.

But yeah, they also should be silent now.

 

[jezr74]

Why not blame the hospital administration for not having a procedure in place for guests of this nature? There have been prank calls for decades on radio.

The radio company apparently called the Hospital several times before airing and they did not return the calls.

Looks like a witch hunt to me...

 

[Tez3]

Why not blame the hospital administration for not having a procedure in place for guests of this nature? There have been prank calls for decades on radio.

The radio company apparently called the Hospital several times before airing and they did not return the calls.

Looks like a witch hunt to me...

Hardly a witch hunt more the presenters milking a situation. The hospital (which is private one not NHS) should have screening on calls however the presenters have a history of inappropriate calling hence the official warnings the station was on. I can't think why it would be amusing to phone up a hospital anyway, it's childish and not very funny, the presenters are making a living by fooling people and making idiots of them so when something comes back to bite them in the bum they shouldn't be surprised that there's a backlash. This sort of 'prank' only appeals to numpties.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

This is a tragedy. However, I don't think it should be getting the publicity it's getting compared to other events. Over a million people commit suicide each year, and at least 4000 per year in the UK. Why do they have to go crazy over this one, especially since she has kids who almost definitely don't want to get caught up in all this, but probably will? Is it just because they impersonated the royal family? If so charge them for fraud, but don't involve her.
Also, here's an article where the family and friend blame the phone call: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...d-blame-prank-deejays-death-article-1.1216672
This is an article saying that the family (and friend) blames the prank call, and want to bring justice to them, but it says a couple things that would imply a:the family wants to grieve, not bring justice the way its being done right now and b: there was more involved then just the prank call.

“They feel they need this time together and alone, away from the media,” Finnegan said.

While hospital officials did not reprimand Saldanha for falling for the hoax, she was devastated by the embarrassment

Sandy Kaye, a spokesman for the station the deejays work for, 2Day FM, suggested Saldanha had suffered from depression.

So her children and husband don't want to be disturbed by the media, she wasn't in fear of losing her job or something similar, even though she did feel shame about it, and she may have had depression before hand. However, the media is going crazy over it, and people are blaming it purely on her stress, shame and worry from the incident, while completely ignoring her not getting in trouble and possible psychological history? How exactly is that fair to her, her (immediate) family, or the deejays who know, even if deemed innocent, have to live with the guilt that they may have been the sole cause of someones death for the rest of their lives?

P.S. Sorry for the long rant, but I absolutely hate it when people blow things up/out of proportion, even though it helps almost no one involved to do so.

 

[jezr74]

Hardly a witch hunt more the presenters milking a situation. The hospital (which is private one not NHS) should have screening on calls however the presenters have a history of inappropriate calling hence the official warnings the station was on. I can't think why it would be amusing to phone up a hospital anyway, it's childish and not very funny, the presenters are making a living by fooling people and making idiots of them so when something comes back to bite them in the bum they shouldn't be surprised that there's a backlash. This sort of 'prank' only appeals to numpties.

It's presented in Australia differently to how it's presented in UK I'd say, in Aus the DJs are devastated. And knowing the personalities of the DJs, they are not malicious people. They are even wanting to meet the family of the woman out of respect and to give them closure and allow for them to finish their grieving. The history of inappropriate calls would be extensive, that's what prank calling is about, some are better than others. But I'd say nearly every prime time radio slot DJs do this and have been doing it for years.

 

[Tez3]

This is a tragedy. However, I don't think it should be getting the publicity it's getting compared to other events. Over a million people commit suicide each year, and at least 4000 per year in the UK. Why do they have to go crazy over this one, especially since she has kids who almost definitely don't want to get caught up in all this, but probably will? Is it just because they impersonated the royal family? If so charge them for fraud, but don't involve her.
Also, here's an article where the family and friend blame the phone call: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...d-blame-prank-deejays-death-article-1.1216672
This is an article saying that the family (and friend) blames the prank call, and want to bring justice to them, but it says a couple things that would imply a:the family wants to grieve, not bring justice the way its being done right now and b: there was more involved then just the prank call.



So her children and husband don't want to be disturbed by the media, she wasn't in fear of losing her job or something similar, even though she did feel shame about it, and she may have had depression before hand. However, the media is going crazy over it, and people are blaming it purely on her stress, shame and worry from the incident, while completely ignoring her not getting in trouble and possible psychological history? How exactly is that fair to her, her (immediate) family, or the deejays who know, even if deemed innocent, have to live with the guilt that they may have been the sole cause of someones death for the rest of their lives?

P.S. Sorry for the long rant, but I absolutely hate it when people blow things up/out of proportion, even though it helps almost no one involved to do so.

I'm not sure that everyone has taken this too far, the station has a history of 'prank' calls that have gone wrong, the rape admisson by the 14 year old, the 'prank' call by them to a young girl telling her to confront her mother who was sleeping with the girl's boyfriend. That's one reason there a tumult about this.
We don't actually know the hospital wasn't going to discipline here, they say they weren't now but if she wasn't dead? It's a business and they don't want to look bad, we don't know what was actually said by management at the time, one reason the police are investigating. Speculating she may have a history of mental health problems is wrong, it's wrong who ever does it which I'm afraid Kempodisciple is as guilty of as any of the press. You assume a lot about the hospital and of the nurse's mental state.
The article cited in the post quotes the Daily Mail which means you have to take it with a very large pinch of salt ie the 'best friend' probably doesn't exist etc. The Daily Fail likes to make things up to sensationalise or berate, I'd ignore anything that came from them.

Wait for the Coroner's court and the inquest before deciding she was depressed or that the hosptial didn't pressure her.

Is it out of proportion, perhaps in non Commonwealth countries it is but it's something that affects the security of the Royal Family so here it will be a big story.

 

[Tez3]

It's presented in Australia differently to how it's presented in UK I'd say, in Aus the DJs are devastated. And knowing the personalities of the DJs, they are not malicious people. They are even wanting to meet the family of the woman out of respect and to give them closure and allow for them to finish their grieving. The history of inappropriate calls would be extensive, that's what prank calling is about, some are better than others. But I'd say nearly every prime time radio slot DJs do this and have been doing it for years.

So making a 14 year old girl confess she'd been raped at 12 isn't malicious? Telling a girl her mother was sleeping with the girl's boyfriend isn't malicious? It's just fun then.......
they have official warning against them and the station for the type of prank calls they made. yeah I bet they are heartbroken....at losing their careers.