While it was meant all in harmless fun, I sincerely doubt that the individual’s response – to commit suicide – was anything other than an inappropriate response to jesting in good-hearted intent.
It is indeed tragic that the nurse committed suicide.
Perhaps there were other underlying issues, or an inability to cope that predicated her distressing response.
One simply cannot hold others responsible for everything. As tragic as this story is, one must accept responsibility for one’s own actions.
Prank Call Seeking Royal Family Secrets Takes Horrifying Turn
By SARAH LYALL
LONDON — As pranks go, this one appeared outrageous and obnoxious rather than malicious: after convincing a hospital nurse who answered the phone this week that they were Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, two Australian radio hosts then tricked another nurse into disclosing medical information about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge, who had been admitted with acute morning sickness.
The call was broadcast on Australia radio; then it went out around the world.
But the stunt took a horrific and unexpected turn on Friday, when the nurse who answered the call, 46-year-old Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead, an apparent suicide.
The Metropolitan Police would not release details of the death, except to say that they had received a call reporting that there was an unconscious woman at Weymouth Street, in central London, and two ambulance crews had arrived to find Mrs. Saldanha already dead. A police spokesman said they were not treating the death as suspicious.
It was unclear what exactly had happened since the prank itself to make Mrs. Saldanha, who was reportedly married and had two children, take her life. King Edward VII’s Hospital, where she worked, said it had not disciplined her, but rather had been “supporting her during this difficult time.” Nor, apparently, had the royal family raised a fuss with the hospital, an exclusive private institution that has long been the hospital of choice for Britain’s royals.
“At no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the incident,” a spokesman for St. James’s Palace said. “On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and the hospital staff at all times.”
The turn of events was seen as so shocking that it provoked a response from even the prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, who called it “a terrible tragedy.”
Whatever the immediate impetus for Mrs. Saldanha’s death, the episode was Read the rest of this entry »
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