When a joke goes too far

[Willzzz]

They phoned her right back and informed her it had been a prank.

[badass]

I'm sorry, the NHS don't have a computer system? When I say take their contact details I don't mean on a scrap of paper.

No, they don't. That have a pathetic mishmash of Information technology that would have looked out of date 15 years ago.

[csgohan4]

They phoned her right back and informed her it had been a prank.

Are you sure???? Not from the BBC i've been reading You can also look at other sources too to verify this. In effect the radio station have broken the Autralian law as they didn't notify the victim they were going to broadcast it.

Some other media outlets here have allegedly seen the suicide letters which are quite critical of the hospital management's handling/treatment of her. More food for thought.

[Saracen]

....

And the fact is that the suicide had nothing to do with the fact that the deceased worked at a hospital, she could have been working in any number of places and had the same reaction. The reason this ended in tragedy was not because of it being a hospital but because of outside, personal and cultural factors.....

Fact? Really?

Where did that "fact" come from?

What personal, cultural factors?

And how do you know that it had nothing to do with her working at a hospital? What evidence is there, either way?

It seems to me that facts are very thin on the ground here. We know she killed herself, and we pretty much know how. It appears three notes were left, and we have reports from "sources" about the general content, but the notes are not public.

We know an inquest has been opened and basic facts established, and we know that we won't get an inquest verdict for, at best, several months. We know the police are investigating, but they haven't concluded that yet, much less announced any results.

We know that medical experts are of the opinion that you cannot draw hard and fast conclusions about what is necessary to drive an individual to suicide, because it can be a large variety of factors, and their effect will vary from one person to another.

One other thing we know is that we may never know the full details of what drive her. The strong likelihood is that only she knew exactly what drive her to it, and unless full details are in the notes, we may only ever be able to hazard an educated guess.

So I'd love to know how it was a "fact" that it was outside personal and cultural factors. Maybe it was. Most likely, it was a combination of factors, some or many of which may be nothing to do with this incident. But it seems to me that we simply do not have enough facts to draw any firm conclusions.

That this hoax was a trigger certainly seems to be the case, if the reports of the content of the notes are correct. But the extent to which it was this incident, and the extent to which it was other factors, be they personal, cultural or whatever, seems speculative as hell to me right now.

Those same medical opinions will tell you that usually, suicide is as a result of a series of factors building, but that sometimes, and for some personality types, a single severe stressor can be enough. It seems entirely plausible to me that if something caused her to feel guilt, or shame, over this, then the knowledge that it is the focus of intense world-wide media interest may have been enough. But I stress, may have been enough. Short of the inquest and police investigations concluding, we really don't know much at all.

And really, it's not relevant to speculate. That this incident was a trigger seems likely even before seeing reports of the alleged content of these notes. That it was seems certain if those reports are correct. Beyond that ......

[Willzzz]

"One of the DJs is understood to have telephoned King Edward VII Hospital again within an hour of the first call, informing Mrs Saldanha that they had played a prank and that the tape was about to be broadcast."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...prankster.html

I'm not saying the event wasn't a trigger, but it could have been a trigger had the prank been at a different place of work.

[csgohan4]

"One of the DJs is understood to have telephoned King Edward VII Hospital again within an hour of the first call, informing Mrs Saldanha that they had played a prank and that the tape was about to be broadcast."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...prankster.html

I'm not saying the event wasn't a trigger, but it could have been a trigger had the prank been at a different place of work.

Contacted them is one thing but asking for permission which is unlikely to have been given is another. They still aired it, so what's the point of calling if you clearly want to air it?? Totally insincere and pointless. The article there adds further fire to the management leaning on her... pity they didn't come clean and denied everything, typical pencil pushers

[Willzzz]

Since the hospital were aware of it they could have objected to the radio station before it was broadcast.

[csgohan4]

Hospital not aware, remember they tried to contact the hospital 5 times. Would you have let this gone on air???? Common sense says they wouldn't have, so the station was trying to cover their assess by saying they did.

[Willzzz]

So the nurse didn't inform anyone? Burying her head in the sand?

[csgohan4]

So the nurse didn't inform anyone? Burying her head in the sand?

Who knows, speculating now.. regardless, the call did make a significant factor to her committing suicide. Every action has a reaction.

[peterb]

So the nurse didn't inform anyone? Burying her head in the sand?

So you are trying to blame the nurse now?

Not quite sure why you are trying to defend the radio station.

[Willzzz]

You think that because the nurse is the victim that she should be immune from blame?

Clearly many factors are involved, some we know about, others we don't know about. Many people are to blame to a certain extent, yet the majority are acting like the DJs are 100% to blame.

[peterb]

You think that because the nurse is the victim that she should be immune from blame?

Clearly many factors are involved, some we know about, others we don't know about. Many people are to blame to a certain extent, yet the majority are acting like the DJs are 100% to blame.

Advice to a man in a hole... "Stop digging"

[Willzzz]

What annoys me is when people are pretending to be morally superior when actually all they are doing is being populist.
Especially when that person is a journalist whose morals seem to change daily.

[peterb]

What annoys me is when people are pretending to be morally superior when actually all they are doing is being populist.
Especially when that person is a journalist whose morals seem to change daily.

What? Who?

[csgohan4]

You think that because the nurse is the victim that she should be immune from blame?

Clearly many factors are involved, some we know about, others we don't know about. Many people are to blame to a certain extent, yet the majority are acting like the DJs are 100% to blame.

would she have committed suicide if the DJ's hadn't called??? that is the question