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Original poster

To feel sorry for the Australian DJs?

921 replies

andapartridgeinaRowantree · 08/12/2012 00:38

Obviously more sorry for the nurse's family. I wonder how long she was having suicidal thoughts for? I can't think this could have been the only cause,

But these pranks have been going on for such a long time and those DJs could not have predicted such a result and are going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

It's such a tragedy and I feel very sad for all concerned.

OP posts:
exoticfruits · 09/12/2012 08:00

Exactly-management failure and not nurse failure. It doesn't detract from the fact that I don't feel sorry for the DJs- if you are going to do a practical joke you need to think it out first. I can accept that they never imagined they would get through- but if you imagine that why try in the first place? Common sense tells you that someone will be in trouble for a moment of 'fun'.

seeker · 09/12/2012 08:12

But nobody is talking about the management failure. And it's also interesting that before this awful happened, the mumsnet consensus seemed to be that the nurses concerned should be sacked. it's only since that all the blame has been heaped at the door of the radio station.

It is outrageous that they broadcast the phone call without consent. Absolutely outrageous. And possibly illegal.

But anyone with a modicum of training should have realised that the Queen would not phone a hospital personally at 5.30 in the morning. And is unlikely to have been asking Prince Charles when he could run her down to visit, or to be saying she had to go and feed the corgis. And it makes me wonder how crap the hospital is in other areas of security. And I suspect they are now being taken apart by the royalty protection people.

exoticfruits · 09/12/2012 08:15

Of course it was appalling - but so are overworked nurses.

The thread is about feeling sorry for the DJs - and everything else on here doesn't detract from 'no I don't'.

kakapo · 09/12/2012 08:19

I don't understand this prank at all - so they call up to see if they can get confidential info about someone who is ill, and then what?? How is it supposed to be funny?! I hate pranks anyway, but usually you can see what the joke is meant to be.

Jossysgiants · 09/12/2012 08:24

I feel a little sorry for them. They have been idiotic. They could not have anticipated their actions would have these consequences. However they must have known there would be some detrimental consequences to the nurses. They will have to live with that. However, I completely fail to understand why the police should be involved in this, as the papers are reporting that they may be extradited and face manslaughter charges. This would have worrying implications in my view regarding suicide and responsibility. However, is being 'reported' in the Daily Mail so is likely to be bollocks speculation.

exoticfruits · 09/12/2012 08:26

I don't see how they can face manslaughter charges.

peaceandlovebunny · 09/12/2012 08:27

i don't feel sorry for the bullies djs. they were taking part in a horrible activity, admittedly one pursued by many, and the consquences of their actions were the worst possible.

it is worth saying that nurses shouldn't give away personal information to randoms - but when relatives phone, they expect to be told. the fault lies with the liars who claimed to be relatives when they weren't - for a laugh. very funny - not.

the media also should share the blame - yes, it happened, but was there any need to broadcast it worldwide?

i feel sorry for the woman who felt the burden of a mistake and the resulting global shaming so badly that she took her own life. i feel sorry for the children left without their mother because she made a mistake at work which was talked about around the world.

but i do not feel sorry, for even one moment, for the crass, bullying djs or the despicable aspects of a western 'liberal' culture which tolerates this kind of behaviour.

laptopwieldingharpy · 09/12/2012 08:32

They could not have expected the consequence of their actions?

In most countries, prank calls to emergency services are a criminal offense.

This was no emergency line but surely mobilising a phoneline and resources in a hospital WITH the intent of breaching someones's privacy with the knowledge that that particular patient is under intense media scrutiny?
They must have given it a thougt, no?

Even without the tragic loss of life, it's wrong on so many levels, for many parties involved.

seeker · 09/12/2012 08:35

Oh, of course they can't face manslaughter charges.

I don't think anyone comes out of this very well, to be honest.

exoticfruits · 09/12/2012 08:51

The only good to come out of it is that people might think twice before a 'prank'. ( but I doubt it)

lotsofdogshere · 09/12/2012 09:13

I don't feel it's ok to take the line that this nurse must have had "other issues" going on. She was a nurse, not someone who sought a job in the public eye, where any publicity could be seen as good publicity. These dj"s set out to get private, medical information about a young woman, pregnant with her first baby and in hospital because she needed hospital treatment. They had no right to do that to anybody. I feel for the young parents to be, firstly having to make the pregnancy public before they wanted to and secondly the impact the death of the nurse may have on what should be a happy time for them. More than anything though, what a dreadful mess, this nurse's husband, children and extended family left bereaved in such circumstances. The last thing they need is for people to blame the nurse by saying this prank wouldn't have tipped a "normal" person into suicide. This whole episode reflects a bullying culture in which anyone who can't stand the heat, should get out of the kitchen. Horrible.

Pantomimedam · 09/12/2012 09:15

I'm sure the presenters didn't foresee the outcome of their actions. That's because they are too arrogant or stupid to think that breaching medical confidentiality might be wrong.

I hate prank calls anyway - they always seem to embarrass and humiliate the poor bloody receptionist or other lowly (in heirarchical terms) member of staff.

aladdinsane · 09/12/2012 09:22

i do hope they lose their careers
they may not have expected the poor nurse to take her life but they must have expected there was a good chance she would lose her job
The laws need changing, i think permission should be gained before anything is broadcast or put on the internet
If you do something unfortunate in a public place there is a good chance some idiot with a mobile phone will stick you on youtube
I would hate it
Celebrities have chosen to be in the public domain. Its not fair to put people there without consent, especially just for a cheap laugh
I am not convinced they are feeling so fragile anyway, I think its an effort to gain public sympathy for them so they can rescue their careers

threestepsforward · 09/12/2012 09:30

I heard on radio 4 news this morning that the 2 DJs are having intensive counselling to cope with the backlash against them.
So not, then, to cope with the fact their prank had led to someone's suicide.
Interesting
After hearing that, I have no sympathy for them at all.

CabbageLeaves · 09/12/2012 09:35

I hope the managers and lawyers are being remembered by everyone. I think they bear equal guilt

clam · 09/12/2012 10:07

And let's hope that no radio station decides to phone up whichever facility the "vulnerable" female DJ is being cared for in, and broadcast the "hilarious" conversation.
If she is as vulnerable as the Mail Blush reports, then she should surely have had an iota of insight that taking the piss (indirectly) out of anyone in hospital is not acceptable.

seeker · 09/12/2012 10:16

Absolutely, cabbageleaves. Both lots of managers- the radio station and the hospital.

sayithowitis · 09/12/2012 10:18

I do not have sympathy for them.
They have brought this upon themselves by their own actions. They chose to instigate a course of action that anyone with a modicum of sense, would have realised would have unpleasant consequences for an innocent party - at least some sort of disciplinary warning and possibly the loss of her job for the nurse. But, the DJs chose to go ahead anyway. I agree that they could not have foreseen the dreadful outcome, but are we really saying that it would all have been fine as long as she didn't die? Really? It would have been acceptable for her to potentially lose her job in order to generate a bit more fame for another person? They had no way of knowing that the person who was the butt of their 'joke', wasn't the sole provider for their family, or indeed whether or not that person had any form of MH issues (I dont necessarily think she did - just a very highly developed sense of profesionalism that meant when she, in her eyes, failed her patients, caused her to react in this extreme way) and really, I don't think for one moment that they cared. All they cared about was themselves and their ratings.

So no, I do not have any sympathy for them.

threestepsforward · 09/12/2012 10:23

Quote from the bbc website, (apologies is mentioned before in thread):

Michael Christian had basked in the attention that he and his colleague Mel Greig, a former reality TV star, had obtained for their hospital hoax.

"The only bad thing about our Royal Prank? is knowing that I will NEVER EVER top this,'' he posted on Facebook. "Less than a week in the job & I've already peaked."

Of course this was before the news of the suicide, but it leaves a nasty nasty taste in the mouth.

The quest today in the media for notoriety and ratings is sickening...

threestepsforward · 09/12/2012 10:24

apologies IF mentioned, sorry!

helenthemadex · 09/12/2012 10:32

I have no sympathy what so ever for them

people keep saying the nurse must have had other issues, I don't think that is necessarily true

Imagine going to work one day doing your job, something happens that makes worldwide news with you at the centre of it being ridiculed, humiliated having people calling for you to be sacked, facing disciplinary procedures and knowing that one mistake could have potentially changed your life and that of your family for ever

it would take a very very strong person to just get on with it, and ignore everything that was being said about her. she was not someone famous and used to being in the news, she was just someone doing a job and by all accounts doing it well

The people who deserve our sympathy are her family, not the two pathetic shock jocks who gloated over it, and the shit radio station who continues to support and attempt to justify their actions, shame on them

GothAnneGeddes · 09/12/2012 12:31

The other point, which I've made elsewhere, is that it is likely that Jacintha was extremely sleep-deprived.

You are often bone-tired after a night shift and then all this blows up, I doubt she was able to sleep easily.

Looking at the timeline of events, she may not have slept for nearly 72 hours, that sort of time without sleep seriously damages your sense of perspective, tragically so, in this case.

SetPhasersTaeMalkie · 09/12/2012 12:42

I don't think that having some sympathy for the two DJs is anyway means that you approve of what they have done. Nor is it a finite resource which can only be expended on the deserving. I can have sympathy for all involved.

I think what the two DJs did was appalling. I think if the call had not been made the nurse would still be alive.

However, I am imagining how they are feeling now knowing their actions have most probably caused the death of another human being. Does the fact that they have made an extremely poorly judged, possibly illegal phone call strip them of all other human emotions?

I don't think it does.

Everyone is scrabbling about looking for someone to blame - the DJs, the hospital, the systems, the security services, the Royal family, the media, even a thread on MN!

To what end? It may make you feel better but it doesn't change the circumstances.

LaCiccolina · 09/12/2012 12:44

It's pure speculation at best to refer to how the poor nurse was feeling in her private life before, during and after this event. At worst it is damaging to her memory and her family. I just think its very disrespectful.

Tbh I also feel it's irrelevant entirely. The DJs/station did not care who was at the end of the phone. That was not important. What was portent was the potential of a story, their ratings. They cared not a jot if it was a receptionist, nurse, doctor or the CEO. Anyone was fair game. Mental capacity to deal with handling fall out any fall out was not considered. In fact any reaction would only b probably considered better precisely for more exposure.

That in this case the person killed themselves was not even thought as a worst case. This in essence is similar to Ross/brand with one exceptionally vital difference; remorse. Remorse was quickly expressed by station, artists and those involved. That is not the case here. Here it is clearly not the stations or DJ intention or desire or frankly it would have already been expressed.

It's too late now. It just will not be believed.

DontmindifIdo · 09/12/2012 12:56

I thought the police were only involved now because the Oz police are going to take a statement from them to give to the Met police to give to the inquest. (if you follow that)

Thing is, how did they think that this would end well for the person who was pranked? Surely they would expect them to lose their job at very least? I mean, setting out to get an innocent person sacked is pretty shitty however you look at it. Of course she might not have fallen for it, but then once she had, it was clear when they subsequently broadcast it (as I understand it, this didn't go out live) that they were about to end this woman's career. OK, the hosptial said they wouldn't have fired her, but we don't know if she'd have been encouraged to leave or moved on to less front line jobs so felt she had to go. There was time between making the call and broadcasting to check with lawyers that they wouldn't get in trouble (apparently they did get it cleared before broadcast) so there was time for someone to say "what's going to happen to the poor woman we hoaxed?"