A deadly joke

Alrik Fassbauer

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Hello,

okay, I guess everyone knows by know that a "trick phone call" or "hoax phone call" was made by radio moderators or DJs to get out how the information on how the the health Duchess Of Cambridge, recently married to one of Princess Diana's sons, was.

The event can be read here : http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/royal-baby-hoax-call-hospital

Now it seems that the nurse who had been the victim of this "hox call" committed suicide.

And I'm sure that the radio statio won't report about it.
Because this would mean bad news for them.
And for the moderators/DJs, too.

The news about the presumed suicide can be read here : http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/07/duchess-cambridge-hoax-call-nurse-found-dead

I'm really interested in a statement by this radio channel and the two moderators/DJs who actually performed this "hoax".

Thank you for destroying a woman's life by your thoughtlessness, Misters.



Alrik
 
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I guess the pressure was too much for her, but if something like that happened to me I wouldn't kill myself but would find and deal with those two arseheads. I bet the judge would drop the case.
Tomorrow those bastards will con someone else, not just about a pregnancy as they need to confirm the power. And they didn't get fired I bet.

Yea, I guess I'm just a dreamer… If I had enough cash to do what I've said, I'd go on chase after all creators of the worldwide spead fraud called free-to-play.
 
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It might be a little early to assign cause, Alrik. Besides, is getting a crank call really sufficient "pain" to justify a suicide? Seems like a rather dramatic overreaction to me. Was this woman already in bad shape and this pushed her over, or was she happy as a lark and this is the sole contributor to her meltdown? Lots of questions, not many answers, but a heaping pile of judgment already coming down.
 
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So am I. There are several dubious and possibly illegal aspects of this particuloar prank, but a suicide was hardly a forseeable outcome. Very sorry for her, but I find it likely there's more behind it than a single prank call.

I sometimes find prank calls funny if there is a certain finesse to them, but only if the victim is given the chance to prevent it from being aired. Which means: No direct broadcasting.

pibbur
 
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It was an obnoxious prank, but the public outcry is absurdly disproportionate (see the comments on http://www.facebook.com/2DayFM - eg calling for the DJs to be killed etc). I think the station should be disciplined/fined (not just for this but for the station's previous activities) and the DJs handed their cards, but given that suicide is a pretty extreme and unlikely reaction I don't think the penalty should be any harsher than that.

Edit: Facebook page taken down, doubtless because of all the threatening and abusive comments.
 
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From what I heard it doesn't sound like the call was even handled by her. She handed it off to the nurse who was taking care of the duchess. This doesn't make a lot of sense and too think it's too early to start making judgements until we get the details of the call and nurse's psychological state.
 
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Good Grief!!!!!! Such prank calls are common and typical of Aussie humour; it was not only a joke, but it was an obvious one; they didn't even sound like the Queen and Charlie. I remember the Brits going wild over some Chaser pranks as well. Aussies will poke fun at anything and prick the balloons of stuffy officials wherever possible; it's what we do. Must be our criminal heritage. Pomposity is a pain and we love making fun of the Brits and beating them at sport, so everyone needs to chill out and recognise this was nothing but a bit of good natured fun!!
 
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I disagree.

First: confidentiality between health care provider and patient is a fundamental principle in health care, no matter who it concerns. Trying to get (and broadcast) that type of information is wrong.

Second: They didn't trick any stuffy official, they tricked and made fun of a common nurse.

Third: AFAIK the prank was recorded before it was aired, which means they could, without spoiling the fun, have asked the one they tricked if it was ok to broadcast it. That's just common decency.

But again: They can't be blamed for her suicide.

pibbur who won't speculate on if misbehaving is a typical Aussie trait, or if being holier-than-thou is typically Norwegian.
 
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It wasn't the nurse who gave out the info, but the one who first answered the call and transferred it. There was no malice in the prank and no-one was hurt. The suicide was not a reasonable reaction and the 2 people who were involved are totally devastated by this.
 
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I still think, there are several dubious issues with the event, but perhaps it was not as bad as I originally thought. At least you've made me rethink a couple of things.

pibbur who of course hates Corwin because of this. Or he tries to do that. Actually he doesn't. (This is BTW the Norwegian premier minister speaking).

14 days
 
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Radio prank calls have existed for decades - I find it hard to believe they aren't common in many countries. I don't find them very funny - but obviously the public at large do or they wouldn't continue to exist.

The prank was so obvious they could not have possibly thought they would get through, let alone actually get information. If the nurse committed suicide over this (has that actually been established?), she must surely have already had a fragile state of mind because the call itself amounted to nothing.
 
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Thank you for destroying a woman's life by your thoughtlessness, Misters.

Don't you realize how stupid over reacting like that is ? You accuse these people without any other insight about the case than what the media told you… What would you say, knowing the hospital board told her she'll be fired for neglecting the confidentiality rules ? What if it appears she committed suicide because her boyfriend had just betrayed or left her ? If all this mess appears to only be coincidental with something totally different than what it seems to be ?

You say these people didn't think before doing something what normally would have only be considered a funny episode but what about your own attitude here… ?
 
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The prank was so obvious they could not have possibly thought they would get through, let alone actually get information. …

And I have to agree.

So I end up with thinking it wasn't that bad after all, but for unpredictable reasons it turned into a tragedy.

pibbur who once again realizes he should not take part in discussions like this one

13 days
 
Confidentiality is major tenants of nursing……you never give information over the phone to anyone unless you are the one who makes the call. The hype given to these matters when it regards the royals is equal to being a pop star. You are suddenly in a lime light you have no control over. I do doubt this one call would cause a person to commit suicide but anyone can be functioning in their job and have issues that they hide well from others. It may have been the icing on the cake for this person.
 
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The prank would be so obvious - if the nurse was brit.

I tend to disagree with everyone here on this.

1. The nurse doesn't have to know the difference between Peter Jackson's english, Queen mother's english, George Bush's english and Kylie Minogue's english. Nursing job doesn't include voice and language recognition. Unless I missed something.

2. Two useless arseheads did a prank and put an enormous pressure on a person who's job is saving lives. Not on any royalities, but on a goddamned NURSE. Do you really expect a nurse not to be emotional? Those two cretins do, perhaps you do too. And after too much of pressure, what will an emotional person do?

Sorry, but I'm disgusted. Because of a complete idiocy aimed to get more audience to some stinking radioshow, one life is lost. We lost a nurse who could have saved many lives. Let's see how many lives those two responsible for that will save.
 
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Sorry Joxer, but you miss the point. What these people did was PART OF THEIR JOB. Prank radio calls are a common thing. No-one could rationally expect it to end in a suicide. Have you listened to the call? You really don't have to be any sort of language expert to tell it was a hoax call; it was a lousy British accent. All the nurse did was transfer the phone call; SHE did nothing else!! She was either already unstable, or something else was going on for THAT to cause her to suicide!!
 
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What these people did was PART OF THEIR JOB.

Agreed, they're professional jerks.

The suicide of this lady is a terrible thing, like any suicide. But this overreaction is helping no-one. And statements like "We lost a nurse who could have saved many lives" are meaningless dramatics.
 
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Am I understanding this correctly? You're clapping them and their job?

Meanwhile I'm still disgusted with such job where you can be completely irresponsible, where you can take just anyone as your victim - but of course, you wouldn't do the same thing to your mother and after you cross the line, who cares if your victim is someone else's mother. As long as it's not yours, it's okay.

I probably did miss your point and points, but then again, I'm talking about just one point. Is it really legal to rape a nurse over a telephone in your country?
 
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