E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe radio DJs who prank called the hospital where Princess Kate Middleton was being treated are facing tremendous backlash following the death of one of the nurses who spoke with them. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.
Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET: An Australian radio station that staged a prank phone call to the hospital where Duchess Kate was being treated has suspended the radio hosts involved and pulled all advertising after a nurse who was fooled by the call was found dead.
Jacintha Saldanha, who was found dead Friday, is seen in a handout photograph from London's Metropolitan Police.
Mel Greig and Michael Christian, radio hosts on the station 2Day FM in Sydney, called King Edward VII’s Hospital earlier in the week and pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles — and obtained information about Kate's closely watched pregnancy. They were said to be "shattered" by Jacintha Saldanha's death.
The body of Saldanha, 46, who had transferred their call through to Kate's room, was found Friday.
Rhys Holleran, CEO of the entertainment group that owns the radio station, announced at a press briefing that the show was suspended.
"Southern Cross Austereo and the hosts have mutually decided that the show will not return until further notice, out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy," Holleran said.
"This is a tragic event, and one that we could never have foreseen," he said.
'Our beloved Jacintha'
Police said in a statement Saturday that an autopsy would be held next week and a formal inquiry into her death, called an inquest, would open at a future date at Westminster Coroner’s Court.
They released a statement on behalf of Saldanha’s family.
"We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha,” the family said. “We would ask that the media respect our privacy at this difficult time.”
Nurse who was duped by prank call about Duchess Kate found dead
News of Saldanha’s death sparked a storm of outrage, including a flood of harsh comments aimed at the Australian hosts on social media, including these, published on Twitter.
- "A husband without a wife and two kids without a mother! All thanks to you two @MelGreigHot30 & @MContheradio SHAME ON YOU! #royalprank" (@vratnay)"
- "Hope #MelGreig & #MichaelChristianrealise the consequences of their actions resulted in the death of a honest person#Jacintha #2DayFM"
- "Michael Christian and Mel Greig should never be allowed to broadcast again in the public domain for the rest of their lives, imbeciles!" (@ALG4"
Police have said the circumstances of Saldanha's death are unexplained.
King Edward VII hospital in London is still reeling from being seriously punked by two radio DJ's who called and spoke to Kate's nurse. Meanwhile, the two Australians DJs apologized for their hoax. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
Radio DJs impersonate royals, get lowdown on Kate
There were at least two online petitions calling on the two to be dismissed for "gross misconduct," the Herald Sun reported.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Austereo announced that it was suspending all advertising on the station. That news came after supermarket chain Coles and telecommunications company Telstra announced they were pulling their ads from the station.
Duchess Kate discharged from the hospital
Holleran said the company was not commenting on the case, except to express condolences over the tragedy.
"We're very confident that we haven't done anything illegal," he said Saturday. "What happened was incredibly tragic and we're deeply saddened and we're incredibly affected by that.'
He also expressed concern for the hosts, who he described as "shattered" by the events.
Southern Cross Media Group CEO Rhys Holleran spoke to reporters concerning the death of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who was found dead after a radio prank call to Duchess Kate Middleton's hospital. He said that he and the radio hosts "were deeply saddened" and that the tragedy "could not have been reasonably foreseen."
More world stories from NBC News:
- Nurse who was duped by call about Duchess Kate found dead
- 'It pains me': Clinton decries plight of women in male-dominated countries
- Hamas leader returns to Palestinian territories for first time since 1967
- Nurse at Duchess Kate's hospital who was hoaxed by DJs found dead
- PhotoBlog: Shark fins from Canada sold as delicacy in China
- EXCLUSIVE: US behind Afghan 'insecurity,' Karzai says
- ANALYSIS: After 10 years of Karzai rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?
- Sex mobs target Egypt's women
- Africa's lion population plummets, study finds
- ANALYSIS: Egyptians warn Morsi is no friend of US
Leave a Comment:
Antni, unless you are in the medical field, you don't have a clue, so just shut up.
These two DJ's need to be charged. They had to have broken some laws when they impersonated a Family member of a hospital patient, to fraudulently obtain medical information they were not entitled too.
The committed identity theft, plain and simle.
Maybe, just maybe, she died of a heart attack! Or a pre-existing condition! Until the COD is determined, why would anyone blame the DJs? In the event that she took her own life, as tragic as that may be, it still isn't the DJs fault! People get pranked all the time and it would be a sad world if all those people just took their own life as a result of the prank. The fact that she revealed medical information is on her and the people who trained her only! To suggest that somebody calling a hospital/business/military base/private residence and asking for any information under false pretense is somehow at fault if the person revealing that information ends up dead is ridiculous! The two DJs should get their jobs back!
if someone had a pre-existing medical condition and got hit and died as a result, the person who hit them would be criminally responsible for causing the death of that person. If this woman was fighting depression due to the high stress job she was in and she gave out information to someone who was fraudulently posing as someone else and she took her life out of feelings of shame and letting down Kate, a royal who is much loved, these morons should be held responsible.
Nurses work hard to juggle so much in an extremely high stress job, and they put up with a lot from patients and their families to give the best care they can, especially I would think a nurse who has the privilege of taking care of a royal and who has to meet certain standards to qualify. For someone to do this at the expense of this woman is going to the lowest of humanity. Doing this criminal act took away her qualifications to be able to take care of the royals ever again. It would have destroyed all that this woman had worked for in her lifetime. I am not sticking up for any of the royals but when you think of the responsibility it is like having to be like the secret service who guard the president. If they make a mistake they are no longer qualified and would be removed from their job.
When did we as humans stop having boundaries as to what is proper to do and what crosses lines? Why do people seem to think it is okay to hurt someone else and then say it's their fault if they have consequences. In my book that is the definition of a bully. I wonder how much laughing these two people are doing now? We as a society are allowing others to hurt another human being in the name of getting a laugh while at the same time wondering why we are not winning the fight against bullying in the schools. It is because too many lines have been crossed and too many people seem to blame the innocent party in this regard. It would seem that humans have stopped having compassion for others until it affects them. Mankind has lost love for one another, love that is not romantic but that we wouldn't hurt anyone else because it would be wrong to do so. It is no wonder that we hear more bad news today than good news. Much of mankind lives to hurt others either in the name of power or if just to get a laugh at another's expense.
The DJ's are idiots, what did they want to do? Get through to Kate, she's having enough problems caring this child with the morning sickness, the DJ's didn't think that was enough, what did they want to do cause additional stress for her...what were they thinking?? Adults acting like friggin idiots.
Kate Middleton does not need this stress and I hope nothing horrible happens for their family.
However, I don't trust off the cuff comments of suicide. They had a case where they actually initially believed it was suicide when they discovered someone inside a bag, locked from the outside, dead. So lets wait for the full report shall we?
As far as the DJs, yeah they should be fired for being morons and moving outside their stations normal chain of command.
Surely, this nurse would have been embarrassed. I doubt, however, that this embarrassment is enough to kill one's self about. I strongly suspect that this woman had other issues, if it is indeed true that she did kill take her own life.
In the scale of things, her mistake counts for nothing. How unfortunate that it could be considered to be the reason that she is thought to have taken her own life. It is just not serious enough to warrant that kind of anguish.
Sometimes, though, something like this will amplify in our own mind and seem to loom large. The rest of the world, however, does not even seem to notice. Perhaps she would have benefitted from someone pointing out to her just how insignificant it was to the rest of the world. If only someone could have helped her put it into perspective.
Of course we don't know if she took her life, or was overcome with anxiety that aggravated some other physical condition. That is possible. It is tragic, none the less.
if someone had a pre-existing medical condition and got hit and died as a result, the person who hit them would be criminally responsible for causing the death of that person. If this woman was fighting depression due to the high stress job she was in and she gave out information to someone who was fraudulently posing as someone else and she took her life out of feelings of shame and letting down Kate, a royal who is much loved, these morons should be held responsible.
Nurses work hard to juggle so much in an extremely high stress job, and they put up with a lot from patients and their families to give the best care they can, especially I would think a nurse who has the privilege of taking care of a royal and who has to meet certain standards to qualify. For someone to do this at the expense of this woman is going to the lowest of humanity. Doing this criminal act took away her qualifications to be able to take care of the royals ever again. It would have destroyed all that this woman had worked for in her lifetime. I am not sticking up for any of the royals but when you think of the responsibility it is like having to be like the secret service who guard the president. If they make a mistake they are no longer qualified and would be removed from their job.
When did we as humans stop having boundaries as to what is proper to do and what crosses lines? Why do people seem to think it is okay to hurt someone else and then say it's their fault if they have consequences. In my book that is the definition of a bully. I wonder how much laughing these two people are doing now? We as a society are allowing others to hurt another human being in the name of getting a laugh while at the same time wondering why we are not winning the fight against bullying in the schools. It is because too many lines have been crossed and too many people seem to blame the innocent party in this regard. It would seem that humans have stopped having compassion for others until it affects them. Mankind has lost love for one another, love that is not romantic but that we wouldn't hurt anyone else because it would be wrong to do so. It is no wonder that we hear more bad news today than good news. Much of mankind lives to hurt others either in the name of power or if just to get a laugh at another's expense.
I think people are forgetting two things:
It seems to me that the person who was pranked the most, embarrassed the most, and the person who indeed violated hospital rules about patient confidentiality was Kate's attending nurse. It's HER voice on the tape not the deceased nurse Saldanha.
And if Kate's attending nurse hasn't gone to extremes in response to this, then there were truly other issues she was dealing with outside of this situation. No one who is mentally healthy commits suicide over one incident. It might have been the trigger for a culmination of events that led her to take her own life---IF that's what she did.
Tragic , but it just because of who it involved .
The dark side of this it helps open the door a little more for branding another class of terrorist , I'm sure their government will want to get even more access to communications . .
Think I'll tune to radio KAOS , Billy's on the shortwave in 4 minutes
It is to bad that people cannot write a sentance anymore without all the computer short cuts. Such as , U instead of YOU, R instead of ARE, N instead of AND, C instead of SEE. Just some thoughts about correct english so that we can understand what ( U ) you are saying. Just trying to cause a little trouble here.
Royalty worship is more important than any religious worship. To have it violated in this manner could be the end of England as we know it. Maybe this is payback for England dumping all of it's criminals in Australia.
Sooner or later, reality TV / radio will grow up and realize that for every action there is a reaction. Publicly tricking someone and humiliating someone - while they may "have done nothing illegal" to quote the talking suit - in not a moral thing to do. This is just typical bottom feeder junk.
They tricked this woman into doing something, if not illegal in England, completely wrong. Think about this for a second. This is the ROYAL family. Biggest news item of the year for them AND a major thing for England, and the rest of the common wealth, for another several years - Princes Di's GRANDCHILD. This is extremely serious stuff. Look at how it is played over here for crying out loud. And by the way, A nurse releasing ANY information about ANYONE is grounds for immediate termination and would probably result in a lawsuit here in the USA.
Everyone knows that if this happened in the US. The lawyers would have everyone served by now. The hospital would have fired the nurse for giving out the information. If the nurse took her own life - the DJ's would be in jail - on at least wrongful death or involuntary manslaughter. Then after these bottom feeders got loose - probably not convicted, but the system would have taken every penny they had to this point - the book deals and celebrity shows would have started. Instant stars and millionaires.
Personally, I hope these two idiots "Crank Yankers" rot. This was never funny or cool.
This is suspicious me, because paparazzi always pull the same kind of stunts and almost never get away with it. If this radio show actually made it as far as talking to the nurse than there was a serious failure of security to the royal family. Not that they really matter, who really cares if that high price hooker has severe morning sickness. I think this nurse either got pressured to kill herself, or was assassinated.
P.S. I am not trying to troll, but all of my normal post will not go through. My statement stands, however I do not wish the royal family harm, nor do I think that the Duchess is really a whore. I am just testing if this site is only posting inflammatory things about this subject.
You are an idiot and a troll. You don't have one shred of decency in you. Shut up and go away. One usually means what one says until they get called out on it.
a tragedy indeed but there is alot more to this story condemmed the dj 's sure but why there prank was just the last straw that pushed this poor soul off the edge that she was on just pray for her family and hope she can rest in peace now !!
Their "prank" may or may not be illegal but it certainly was immoral and unethical. But then I suppose "personalities" aren't held to very on standards.
There are a lot of ifs about this death, but I don't think the station was right to suspend the DJ's for what is normally a harmless prank. If the nurse died by suicide, this incident was not the sole reason for her actions. She obviously had problems before this.
She caught a TummyBug Virus! End O Story!
They reported it was a suicide on CNN.
They may have done nothing illegal, but it certainly was unethical and unprofessional!
To me, this nurse already had issues. If she killed herself, that may be a good thing. Having issues, she could have flipped and did in a patient. I do not want to hear about compassion. It is what it is. She was foolish enough to fall for some stupid prank. Oh well. If she was a professional, she knew better than to give out patient information. But again, they don't know why she is dead. The 'djs' are getting blamed for something no one knows about. And if you believe in god, when your number is up, it's up. No one to blame.
if someone had a pre-existing medical condition and got hit and died as a result, the person who hit them would be criminally responsible for causing the death of that person. If this woman was fighting depression due to the high stress job she was in and she gave out information to someone who was fraudulently posing as someone else and she took her life out of feelings of shame and letting down Kate, a royal who is much loved, these morons should be held responsible.
Nurses work hard to juggle so much in an extremely high stress job, and they put up with a lot from patients and their families to give the best care they can, especially I would think a nurse who has the privilege of taking care of a royal and who has to meet certain standards to qualify. For someone to do this at the expense of this woman is going to the lowest of humanity. Doing this criminal act took away her qualifications to be able to take care of the royals ever again. It would have destroyed all that this woman had worked for in her lifetime. I am not sticking up for any of the royals but when you think of the responsibility it is like having to be like the secret service who guard the president. If they make a mistake they are no longer qualified and would be removed from their job.
When did we as humans stop having boundaries as to what is proper to do and what crosses lines? Why do people seem to think it is okay to hurt someone else and then say it's their fault if they have consequences. In my book that is the definition of a bully. I wonder how much laughing these two people are doing now? We as a society are allowing others to hurt another human being in the name of getting a laugh while at the same time wondering why we are not winning the fight against bullying in the schools. It is because too many lines have been crossed and too many people seem to blame the innocent party in this regard. It would seem that humans have stopped having compassion for others until it affects them. Mankind has lost love for one another, love that is not romantic but that we wouldn't hurt anyone else because it would be wrong to do so. It is no wonder that we hear more bad news today than good news. Much of mankind lives to hurt others either in the name of power or if just to get a laugh at another's expense.
You are an ignorant a$$. I hope you have a nurse just as you described when you are old, senile, and helpless..
If you have been to any medical appointment in the last few years you know about HIPPA. It's all about
privacy. They take it very seriously these days. Here in America a nurse can be sued for $50,000, spend 10
years in jail and probably lose her/his job, reputaton, abilty to get another job, and possibly their license to
practice. I don't know what the laws are in Britian but for a breach of security to occur for a Royal family
member, you can bet that nurse was called on the carpet and raked over the coals big time. When are people
going to realize not every situation is appropriate to turn into a JOKE? Everyone here who defends the DJs
haven't got a clue. The DJs are not members of a profession that is consistently rated the most trustworthy
(here in America,anyway). The DJs are not under tremendous pressure at their jobs on a daily basis like nurses
are. The whole situation is a tragedy that shouldn't have happened. My thoughts and prayers are with the
nurse's family.
I have to say I HATE monarchy and I think that William and Kate are overrated. They have no power and suck money away from tax paying citizens. The whole idea of a King and Queen is out-dated and needs to be thrown out the window. They are insignificant people and no one should pay any more attention to them. I feel really bad for this woman because she lost her life over two of the most worthless people on the earth. Maybe if people cared more about the working class and less about william and kate she would still be alive. If this had been any other patient we would have never heard about it.. but because its Stupid royal KATE..... heaven forbid people know she threw up her breakfast.. Give me a break. Monarchy is stupid and I wish MSN would print more importnat things than about celebs or princess Kate and william.
Apparently you simply live a life full of hate Perry for no good reason, and you are entitled to have this problem, but blaming the victims is pathetic and childish. The only thing stupid and worthless around here is you.
No Rex I think it is stupid that a woman had to lose her life because people care so much about 2 worthless people. If this was any other patient there would have been less than zero media coverage and this woman would probley still be alive but because people are so hung up on people without any real use. This woman had dedicated her life to helping people and because everyone is obsessed with the dumb royal family she is now dead. So yeah I do hate the royal family for this. I actually hold them responsible. I also hold them responsible for using our tax money to pay for stupid Kates' wedding and lifing their life of luzery while people freeze to death and starve on the streets.. I am sorry if you think that is a life of hate but it is what it is. I live my life to help others. You life your life to defend people who don't have to do anything and get payed by people like me for it. You want to bow down to a useless monarchy feel free, but I think I would rather spend my time working on my childrens cancer research. I would rather tax dollars go to things like this than paying for a princes wedding.
Perry really does have a point, though. The royals are just "to the manor born". They have done nothing to earn the lofty position. There are many, many other people in this world who are actually earning their angel wings. It seems understandable how some can lament this adoration that the British people seem to feel. I saw some woman on the TV news who was actually breaking up with tears just talking about Kate. That is misplaced sentiment.
Adoration aside, this nurse must have been troubled by other factors in life, as well. And, yes, the two DJs do seem to have stepped into the outer bounds. Humiliating others in public is never in good taste and can have unforeseen consequences. I am sure that they are sorrowful that this happened.
I don't agree with these two idjiots in the least. They are moronic and should be fired without delay. Did the hospital admonish the nurse? Did they fire her or reprimand her or suspend her? If they didn't and they were as supportive as I've heard, then why did she kill herself. It was a mistake. Nobody because she took the call. The Royal Family was not harmed. Get this, the prank itself was stupid, and created a shatstorm of controversy for them, the Royal Family and this poor nurse. I just don't understand the suicide. I'm sure she was not being demonized for her actions, at least that's the hospitals position. I can imagine that the Royals had some questions for her and maybe they grilled her some, but suicide? I don't understand. I'm not be unsympathetic here okay? I'm just curious as to the reason for such drastic measures when it was stated that she was being supported, not accused of wrongdoing. Suicide is so final and if she was religious, then she went to a place beyond redemption. The radio hosts should be out and out, bag and baggage, kicked to the curb. They should also be at the mercy of the British Royals and the law from both their own country and from the British Government. Don't let these guys slime their way out of their part in this, let them pay for their stupidity. But suicide? Damn. That's just so awful to feel that lowly about something that you could take the most important thing that you have, your life and your soul. Poor girl.
I don't think most of you realize how serious this really is. Even if this happened here in the US, HEADS WOULD ROLL. As nurses we are NOT allowed to give out information about the patient unless it is to family. What these D.J's did is reprehensible & disgusting. It is also ILLEGAL to try to obtain medical information and/or records without the proper documentation, which these two buffoons did NOT have. I think they should be let go from the station for impersonation of royal family which is ILLEGAL in and of itself. I agree it is difficult on the phone to tell who is who, maybe the connection was poor if they were calling from Australia, but this pisses me off NO end as I am a nurse myself and would be humiliated if someone played a stupid scam like that on me, on MY job, a rare job NO ONE gets, and no I do NOT think she killed herself so quit blaming the nurse for the issue. the issue is these 2 DJs did something VERY wrong and I hope they also lose their jobs for such POOR taste. I don't find one bit of what they did "funny." If you do find this humorous you have serious problems and need to do some research on the UK and the "Royals." You may not like the fact the Royals get attention like this but how DARE you after they lost Princess Diana, blame the nurse for all the problems, saying she was looney to begin with if something like this "puts her over the edge."You simply do not understand HONOR. The UK still has it while the US falls deeper into disgusting reality shows, some that forever damage the contestants by only choosing the "chosen footage" (which is ALWAYS taken out of context) the shows pick to show the public. You obviously do not understand how serious this is, this is Princess Diana's grandbaby and for these mean DJ's to do what they did is in extremely poor taste and I for one am glad their advertisers are pulling out of their retarded show. They obviously have NO CLUE what happens to the nurse who believes them and puts their call through! They should have hung up right then and there. What they did is ILLEGAL and they should be punished for it. I believe someone at the hospital is responsible for this nurse's death, as they knew they would be in BIG TROUBLE and possibly sued by the Royal Family. Do you think this was funny to a sick pregnant woman? Then YOU are the one that needs the funny farm. I've had hyperemesis of pregnancy and was in the hospital a month! It's like being constantly nauseated and you cannot eat! How DARE these DJs play such an awful trick. The world is truly going downhill if people consider this "funny." Well it's ok isn't it? Their karma will come round soon. I am sure there are many other jokes they could have played that would have been humorous, but this one involves a CHILD and I for one do not find it remotely "funny" they said they were the Queen and Prince Charles. That is falsely impersonating someone. I'd like to see how you'd feel if something like this was done to you and your current state of health---I don't think for a second you would find it "humorous and funny."
You are right Cyndi, but I also have to wonder about the ACTUAL protocol and policy of the hospital. I have not seen that mentioned. When I worked on an in-patient psychiatric unit, we would get calls from people snooping and trying to find out information about regular people for their own reasons (divorce, child-custody, a job so that they can fire the person for relapsing, etc...). On occasion we would have a high-profile patient or a person who was very paranoid about people finding out that they were there. So extra precautions were taken. In fact, we had to cover any windows to the unit so people could not look in (it was a locked unit like most psychiatric are), this was done to maintain security for the patient.
This hospital MUST have had a protocol for handing not only a celebrity, but a Royal. I can't believe that a regular nurse was even allowed to discuss the condition of the patient! On occasion that I worked with a celebrity, the ONLY person that was allowed to discuss anything with anyone was the head, charge nurse working the shift OR the psychiatrist. If we broke those rules, we would have been suspended or fired. It was made clear and would have been discussed on shift change report. We also had a policy of creating a password that only one person was allowed to use to call and ask about the condition of the patient. That person, because they KNOW that this code exists, would immediately say when calling, "I am calling about Princess Kate I have a password (code)". We would get the chart and confirm. At that time, and ONLY at that time, would we disclose ANYTHING about the patient. And again, in certain cases only certain people were allowed to talk to the person calling due to status or medical condition, which needed a more experienced nurse. Anytime, anyone calls about a patient and they don't have a password, they get the standard, "I cannot confirm of deny that person is here." We would get repeated calls about many patients NOT just famous people. We would get screamed at and told that they would call the cops on us. We would also have people insist that the person is there and why can't we tell them how they are doing? This is to protect an adult patient. It is the law. And as you indicated, the nurses WILL take a lot of abuse over the phone. In some cases, a person does not want anyone to know anything about their condition. This protects the patient and is a HIPPA violation if we break it.
I still wonder about the policies at this hospital. IF there weren't any (which I really, really doubt), I feel bad for the nurse. If there were and she broke them, the fault really is hers. When in doubt, you fall on your training and best practices, or get the head/ charge nurse. When in doubt get the nursing supervisor for advise. I guarantee that this is not the first time for a hospital to receive fake calls about a celebrity. The reason we don't hear about them is BECAUSE staff followed policy and maintained the privacy of their patient. Did we hear intimate details about Beyoncé baby? No, because the hospital and staff maintained their training. If the nurse did commit suicide, I can understand being so upset and devastated by being duped, and breaching policy that she felt that there was no other way out. It is too bad. She may have needed to rely on her training in that instance as well, and reach out for help. I would still like the hospital to make clear what their policy is. Is it different in the UK than in the US? Can anyone just call and find out anything about anyone?
Too much focus on these "royals". All they ever did was be born.
Absolutely nothing special about these people.
What about the Australian radio audience who listened to these fools. The world is made of two types of people. Sensitive and insensitive. Sensitive children commit suicide because of insensitive bullies. A sensitive nurse who valued patient confidentiality committed suicide as a result of the puerile humor of insensitive radio hosts. In truth we should all ware labels so we know who to avoid.
Today's society has something hugely wrong with them if they feel entertained by DJ's bullying people. The number one "Bully King" in the United States is Howard Stern. He humiliates people of the air, especially women, and everyone sits back and laughs about it. I have never understood his popularity or why anyone thinks he is funny, or would want to listen to him. I feel so sad for that nurse and her family. She must have gone home feeling like she betrayed her Queen and her country. May she rest in peace. It is to bad her family will never rest in peace.