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Hot Topics Jennifer Lawrence Kim Kardashian Rihanna Robert Pattinson Beyonce Justin Bieber Kristen Stewart

Kate Middleton Hospital Pranksters Suspended After Nurse’s Suicide

4:41 pm, December 7th, 2012

(Southern Cross Austereo)

The two Australian DJs who pranked Kate Middleton’s hospital have suspended themselves from their radio show in the wake of the apparent suicide of the nurse they duped.

The company that owns the station released a statement saying, “Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII’s Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world.”

SCA says hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles inquiring on Middleton’s condition, are “deeply shocked” by the situation.

The company adds, “SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy.”

Saldanha was found dead in London on Friday morning, just a few days after she mistakenly put another nurse on the phone with the radio hosts.

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  • Guest

    Why hasn’t the radio station fired these two jerks???

  • http://twitter.com/jczv jc…..55!

    RIP Jacintha Saldanha……my thoughts are with you your family and friends !! descansa en Paz .

  • Not so fast

    They are innocent . Shaming and bulling from teh hospital and stupid masses did that. Prakns are a way of life. I do not think the nurse in USA would be shamed if revealed a prostate exam of the president.

  • HAHA

    It is not illigal to parnk a hospital or THE QUEEN.

  • DontNeedAUsername

    Why the he’ll dis she kill herself OMG it wasn’t that serious. She didn’t have to punish herself for that. The radio host didn’t kill her. What killed her was the amount of persecution, bullying, threats, and hate mail she got from this place we call earth. It’s sick and disgusting how people treat others.

  • MissZee

    actually, here in the US, if a nurse DOES release any type of info, they could get fired…prank or not

  • against ignorance

    they are NOT innocent…. if you pull a prank and somebody dies, you are held responsible… This woman is dead due to their actions…..Impersonating the Queen, taking/using her identity is a crime in itself…. Ignorant people like you need to think about what you are saying before you defend criminals

  • chris

    Innocent…no, guilty of causing her death…hardly. Dumb stunt doesn’t equal murder. The woman did this of her own free will. She was no doubt pushed to the edge by the aftermath of the stunt, but I’d place more blame on people harassing her afterwards. It’s a pity it ended this way…no one should resort to suicide. There is so much to live for!

  • em

    but she didnt release any info that wasnt already known

  • em

    what most people dont understand is that she probably was experiancing severe mental illness and a small prank broke the camels back and tipped her over the edge to the point of not wanting to live anymore

  • MissZee

    against ignorance is right though…impersonating the Queen IS against the law

  • jenver

    Yeah, I agree with you. The prank wasn’t enough to set someone over the edge – especially when they have children to think of. But it does go to show you that nobody knows what another person is going through, so you shouldn’t pull asshole pranks on innocent people.

  • badianba
  • D. Martin

    In the USA no one is allowed to disclose information over the phone due to Federal HIPAA privacy rule. While someone could disclose information it would be in violation of Federal law and they could be prosecuted. You can read about it here: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html

  • D. Martin

    In the U.S. she cannot say anything — even if it’s common knowledge that she is in the hospital. MissZee is right – HIPAA prevents the disclosure of ANY information without written consent. And a healthcare worker would not disclose any information over the phone. I work for a hospital and you have to sign consent forms for this.

  • D. Martin

    I agree with you. While the nurse might have been counseled regarding the disclosure, it wasn’t her fault she was duped. We don’t know everything but I tend to agree with you — it might have just been the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s just a sad situation all around.

    I don’t think it was right what the DJ’s did but I don’t think they could ever imagine that a silly prank would cause someone to kill themselves.

  • Irish Girl

    While I don’t much like what the radio hosts did — in fact I think it was unnecessary, puerile, and actually a security as well as privacy violation — I do not believe this nurse’s death is likely related to their prank. For one thing, as I understand it — she wasn’t even the nurse who actually had the conversation with the radio DJ’s. She simply transferred the call. I mean, sure, anyone would feel chagrined and maybe upset at having found out she was duped, but it’s not an earth-shattering offense. The other nurse — the one who was boneheaded enough to spill confidential patient information over the phone — she’s the one who screwed up (although, again, I’m willing to cut her some slack, and I think the Family is too).

    Suicides are almost always much more complicated than that, and usually the reasons for the suicide existed for a long time before the actual commitment occurs. It’s possible that the radio prank was a ‘last straw’ sort of thing, but I really doubt it. I think it will come out that this woman had some issues and problems she was dealing with that are completely unrelated and probably had been ongoing for months, if not years, before she killed herself.

  • Irish Girl

    Actually no, it isn’t.

  • dede

    While it’s sad, it is definitely not the radio DJ’s fault. How could it be? It was a prank, nothing more, the same has been done to countless celebrities. I have no idea how anyone could have actually fallen for it to start with, the accents were terrible!

  • random

    Bottom Line – humiliation pranks are not funny.

  • Revlon

    I am certain the nurse committed suicide because of humiliation and shame that she was duped!

  • ykw99

    These two jerks bragged and bragged about getting the whole world talking about their little prank….well, I hope they’re happy now!!! I heard they’re both devastated – GOOOOD!!!! They should be forced to financially take care of the women’s two little children for the rest of their lives! I think this is a lesson to all radio DJs who think it’s cool to play pranks on people: it might be a good idea to think ahead and consider what the consequences might be for all the people involved in their stupid stunts. I can only imagine the amount of humiliation and guilt this poor woman had to make her want to kill herself. These two aholes should be fired!! I have no sympathy for either one after hearing their arrogant bragging yesterday and I hope they pay dearly for their actions because they are responsible!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Snarfling

    They should be ashamed. They didnt think about the innocent ppl who could get into trouble for their ‘prank’. We dont know everything about what happened to the nurse and why she was driven to suicide. Maybe she was treated badly by the police and those investigating the incedent. Perhaps she was grilled for hours and treated like a criminal we just dont know but lets face it,it must have been pretty bad for a mother to take her own life. My heart goes out to her family.

  • Mark-John Deafness

    Well done, DJ’s! Bullies are neverending natural resource. Keep on the good work. World needs more orphans.

  • bess

    are u kidding this nurse was possible in danger of losing everything; her license to practice nursing, her income. There is laws that limit what nurses can say to family and especially over the phone. Those DJs need fired, this is sad that someone played a joke when another died in this situation. Nursing is not like any other job, once you lose your license even suspensed for awhile, you can’t work anywhere. I am positive that if the hospital didn’t fire this nurse, they would have. In US these laws are enforced alot in hospital and they take any talk about a patient in lunchroom or elevators very serious!

  • missy

    Bingo and yes I have known nurses to lose jobs and in a few case was reported to the nursing board! If you lose your license or job, a feeling of hopelessness arises and she could have become so depressed she said no way out. I sure this story would have followed her for a long time as she tried to get another job.

  • Alex

    And we’re suppose to have some kind of mis-guided sympathy for the grief these two dj idiots are experiencing? Their irresponsible behavior, which they had to know could result in at the very least, the termination of a hospital employee, has come full circle and is currently biting them on the ass, deservedly so. If they didn’t want or expect sympathy, they wouldn’t have made sure it was known that they removed themselves from their jobs, it would have simply been said that they would not be on the air til further notice, end of story. Sympathy should only be sent in one direction – to the children and spouse of the deceased.

  • Alex

    That’s so not the point. England looks at their royalty much different than the US does their president. This woman felt as though she had greatly disrespected not only Kate but the Queen herself not to mention the fact that in her mind, she was made a fool of in front of the entire world. That’s not even considering that she must have assumed that the hospital felt she was unreliable and unable to make decisions and choices that affected peoples lives if she could be fooled by two dj’s from another country. I don’t see how it could have gotten any worse for this woman. How would you feel under those circumstances??

  • Renae

    Totally Agree!

  • Impressed

    Impressive…how is it possible that such a prank upsets a healthy mind? Couldn’t it be that the hospital gave here too much a hard time for such a prank? And buy listening to the phone call you can tell it wasn’t that… I think the only one to blame was her personal life and maybe the hospital.

  • From Italy with love

    If somebody commits suicide… its sure not a phone call that starts it…..because if that would be the case my friend there would be mass suicide in the world for much bigger problems don’t you think? lets use our anti ignorance brain we have… shall we?

  • amcsprtstud08@aol.com

    Criminals… wow, thats deep. How do you group a pair of radio pranksters into a category of cold blooded murderers? I am deeply saddened that this lady took her life, but connecting it to the prank itself… well that is just a little presumptuous, don’t you think? People that take their own lives usually have been suffering for quite some time and I am guessing that this will eventually surface as something a little more serious and deeper than a prank phone call that was set up to be a joke, and had by no means, an INTENTION to kill. They may not be completely innocent but blaming them for her death is obsurd.

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