Sadly, the lynch mobs were out in full force on Friday on Twitter and other online media, threatening the radio show hosts after a prank phone call they made to a nurse who took the call later committed suicide.
Lost in the tragic suicide is the likelihood that nobody would even know or care about this incident were it not for the fact that the nurse was on reception duty for Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, who put the call through to Kate’s nurse. In the U.S. alone, over 30,000 people commit suicide each and every year. Some of them are nurses.
Also lost in this tragedy is any sense of perspective — as though a single action, incident or behavior could lead someone to end their lives. While I’m sure it could happen in some fictional world, in the real world most people choose a suicidal act only when at the end of a long, desperate rope of depression.
So while haters will hate, anybody hating on the DJs — who had no way of knowing the mental state of the people they were contacting for an otherwise harmless prank — has completely lost it.
The two DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian from Sydney-based 2DYFM in Australia, called the hospital early on Tuesday morning posing as the Queen and Prince Charles to obtain details of the medical condition of Kate, who was being treated there for pregnancy-related sickness.
Jacintha Saldhana, an Indian-origin nurse of King Edward VII hospital, put the call through to Kate’s nurse. Two days later, she was found dead in her house in an apparent suicide.
Some people put 2 + 2 together, and think that since the prank call preceded the suicide, obviously the prank call caused the suicide. But everything we know about suicide suggests a more nuanced likelihood.
Calmer minds should prevail and most people know that correlation does not equal causation. So it’s time to put aside the emotional response to the suicide (and frankly, all suicide is tragic), and stop the blame game. Stop the hating.
Jill Stark, over at the Australian Great Lakes Advocate, has a good story on the importance of not putting the blame on the DJs, since it’s highly unlikely the DJs’ actions were the direct cause of the nurse taking her life:
But leading psychiatrist and former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry called for calm, saying suicide was a complex issue that was unlikely to be caused by one individual factor.
“I feel sorry for them because they obviously had no intention of causing any harm. Blame is hardly ever useful,” Professor McGorry said.
“Most people are in a state of mental ill health leading up to when they kill themselves and it would have needed more than just that trigger to actually bring that about.
“You could say that a stressful life event like this was a contributory cause – and maybe she wouldn’t have killed herself at this point in time without that having happened – but it was likely that there were some other factors going on too.”
Frank Quinlan, chief executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia, said there was a risk of compounding the tragedy by targeting the radio presenters.
“It’s hard to imagine that the vitriol and hatred and anger that we’re seeing in this case is going to result in anything positive,” he said.
If anyone is to blame, it’s not the DJs. It is a society that turns a blind eye to the epidemic problem of suicide — except when it happens to someone connected to a celebrity. That is the real place to point blame.
It’s a society that turns into a virtual lynch mob when anyone connected to a celebrity is affected. But could care less when a nurse, physician or therapist in their own community commits suicide.
It’s a society that wants the fun, zany behavior of morning DJs (a staple of modern radio for decades now), but doesn’t want them to do anything that could unintentionally cause a tragedy of this nature. You know, a safer kind of zaniness perhaps — like listening to someone slipping on a virtual banana over the air instead.
A measured, thoughtful response to such a suicide is what’s called for. Unfortunately for the DJs, however, that means they were taken off the air “until further notice.” It means the hospital — who obviously had insufficient security for screening phone calls to celebrities staying in their care facility — is looking into possible legal action against the DJs, who reside half a world away from them.
No, we seem to live in a world where serious mental health issues like suicide only enter into mainstream discussions when they impact someone connected to a celebrity. And will this then lead into a serious policy discussion of how we as a society can work to provide better services to those who are suicidal in order to help prevent future occurrences? ((Hint: it has nothing to do with radio DJs trying to make a living.))
I doubt it.
Read the full article: Prank callers not to blame, say mental health experts
32 comments
Blame Kate Middleton and the royal family for not having a real job and living on welfare! Period!
I really agree with this article- but I think that the DJ’s deserved to be put off-air. They were already on probation for forcing a 14 year old to admit to having been raped, on air, while connected to a ‘lie detector’, if I remember correctly. So, what happened to them isn’t entirely unfair- they should have better judgment, given the influence they have…
Actually that was two different djs. Same radio station.
I whole heartily disagree that these 2 DJs are not the cause. Being a professional comedian and coach for top comics for over 30 years, I know first hand the devastating effects of those who are the brunt of jokes.
Doctor, you mean to say that if the world was laughing at you, it wouldn’t matter? Doctors are notorious for having the worst sense of humor about them selves.
The rational that they didn’t know that it wouldn’t effect her is nonsense. When these 2 idiots were criticized by a reviewer they went bonkers and attacked back to the point they were suspended which is pure hypocrisy. The radio station played it again and again. This nurse would have to live with that for the rest of her life. She came from a very proud culture and she didn’t ask or seek the spotlight.
Doctor please attend one of my stand up comedy shows and will see how much you can take? By the time the comedians finish, you will be on Prozac, drooling over yourself and staring out the window.
I invite anyone who thinks the DJs are blameless to go to your local comedy club, sit in the front and wear a hat.
ComedyCoach, you ask that those people who believe the DJ’s weren’t to blame should sit up the front wearing a hat at one of your shows. Why should they do that when it is clear that you would take great pleasure in humilliating them. You must be one very unhappy person to inform the readers of the harm that can be bestowed on someone through comedy, yet you would not worrie about inflicting harm on a person that differed to your belief. You and all those that blame the DJ’s should face the fact that, if, and I say if, the nurse was pressured or ridiculed over merely transfering a phone call, then who is really to blame. the DJ’s did not harm her at all.
ComedyCoach, thank you for that comment. I whole-heartedly agree. Excusing individuals for insensitive, damaging behavior because of society’s flaws is counter-productive, if not absurd. Society is made up of individuals, and while I agree that our behavior is molded by complex societal factors, we each still have a responsibility to judge what actions might do others harm. The DJs are not likely to have been the sole motivator of this woman’s suicide, but I’d bet they were indeed one motivator, laying at least some culpability at their feet.
First, a minor correction. You say, “Calmer minds should prevail and most people know that correlation does equal causation.” Obviously you meant that correlation does NOT equal causation.
Now to the point of this comment. I agree with you that the pranksters should not be blamed, but not for the reason you cite. To me, clearly the suicide was not a remotely predictable consequence of their little stunt, let alone an intended consequence, and for that reason they should escape culpability.
Dr. Grohol, you emphasize that suicide is usually the result of a pre-existing depression and is caused by a multitude of factors–you ably make the conventional case regarding the causes of suicide. While not denying that the prank may have played a small role, you strive to downplay it. You are undoubtedly right about the causes of suicide IN MOST CASES.
But I think you are utterly mistaken IN THIS CASE. You fail to point out something that distinguishes this suicide from almost all others—that it occurred in the context of an extremely public embarrassment for the young nurse. And not just an embarrassment for herself but for the royal family, the hospital, etc. Her behavior, for which she was being punished by the hospital, brought enormous and painful attention to the young woman before the eyes of the entire world. This story was reported in the remotest corners of the planet! And she knew it!
The real story behind this incident is the potency of shame—and perhaps guilt as well, but that’s another discussion. Far from being pre-suicidal, I believe the young lady was an entirely normal person who was shamed in the most extreme way possible, and who caused, however inadvertently, discredit or unwanted attention to be cast on others, very important others–her hospital and the royal family. Those two factors together could easily cause an entirely normal, non-depressed person who didn’t have good defenses against shame to feel such intense humiliation that it was considered unbearable, literally unbearable. Dr. Grohol, when you consider how mortified people get when they embarrass only themselves, and before only a small group of people, and then consider that this young lady embarrassed herself, her employer, and the royal family in front of the entire world, it’s not surprising that suicide was the result. In Japan, far lesser shame produces suicide on a regular basis.
Barth I agree with your assessment..up to a point. You write: “I believe the young lady was an entirely normal person who was shamed in the most extreme way possible…”.
I have yet to meet an entirely normal person..I’m not sure if I even know what that phrase means. By “normal” I believe you feel that she was NOT a psychopath. She WAS affected by genuine problems while working. But something else was probably going on in her life. She may have been under numerous stresses. Nursing has been shown to be a very traumatic profession…both primary AND secondary trauma. Being hit by unruly or head injured patients (primary) and having to work with very ill or injured patient EVERY shift (secondary).
And I think that not only should these DJs be fired, I would like to see a good ol’ American gesture…”Sue ’em!” The family already has a case en point where a Rutgers student Dharun Ravi was partially responsible for the suicide of his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi and sentenced to 30 days in jail. I would like to see the nurse’s family bring a civil suit against the DJs AND radio station and also see if criminal penalties could be applied. Now the USA is probably very litigious compared with the UK…but I would like to see both civil and criminal remedies..and I don;t even like attorneys all that well. But I do like prosecuting attorneys!
Nuschler, I don’t think the Ravi case and this one are comparable, for this reason: The person committing suicide in the Ravi case was the intended victim, Tyler Clementi, while the suicide in this case was a peripheral figure, the reception nurse whose only role was connecting the call to Kate’s private nurse. Ravi could well have predicted dire psychological consequences in his victim, Tyler, and thus should have been held responsible, but the radio pranksters could not reasonably have anticipated that the reception nurse, so marginally involved, would have been exposed to the traumatic embarrassment she was, embarrassment largely precipitated by the unexpected world-wide explosion of publicity the incident received.
As for that nurse, or anyone else, being “normalâ€, I simply meant that prior to this incident she would not have been at any higher risk of suicide than your average person, or at least your average nurse. My point with Dr. Grohol was that his invocation of the usual causes of suicide (mainly pre-existing depression) was utterly inappropriate in this case, because this really was a rare instance of suicide caused by sudden extraordinary circumstances overwhelming insufficient coping mechanisms.
I’d agree with you, insomuch as shame and guilt are powerful factors in many people’s lives. But they too cannot explain why one nurse killed herself (someone who just transferred a phone call), while the person who actually spoke at some length with the DJs on the air did not.
As someone else pointed out, culture may have also played a role in her decision.
That’s the point. This incident may have been the “trigger” for the suicide, but it’s wrong to believe it was the only possible trigger for this woman.
Dr. Grohol, consider this analogy: Imagine you have been given the task of assigning cause of death to 100 randomly chosen people, and have been handed the hospital charts and other relevant records for each. So you thumb through the dossier for the first and quickly see he died of liver cancer, the second expired from a heart attack, the third from a brain tumor. When you get to the 83rd dossier, you note the police record indicating the person was extracted from the wreckage of a small plane crash. But, in accordance with your established pattern of seeking natural causes, you carefully peruse the hospital charts and notice a high blood glucose reading, and decide the person died of complications from diabetes.
Absurd, no? And yet you did the equivalent of that in the suicide of the nurse. Here is your overall assessment of what happened, near the beginning of your article: “Also lost in this tragedy is any sense of perspective — as though a single action, incident or behavior could lead someone to end their lives. While I’m sure it could happen in some fictional world, in the real world most people choose a suicidal act only when at the end of a long, desperate rope of depression.†So in Procrustean fashion you stretched and twisted the facts in this case to fit your pre-existing model of suicide—in essence, you ignored the plane crash and arrested “the usual suspects†of depression (incidentally, without a shred of evidence indicating prior depression). While it is certainly true that almost all suicides do indeed arise from pre-existing, often long-term depression, your mistake was insisting upon viewing THIS case from that perspective instead of allowing the clear facts to dictate your conclusions. Glaringly in front of you was the most extraordinary set of circumstances—a nurse commits an embarrassing error subjecting herself and innocent others (including the royal family no less!!) to distressing scrutiny and her mistake LITERALLY attracts world-wide attention and criticism, but you instead talk about the “long,desperate rope of depressionâ€. Contrary to your words, in this very unusual instance “a single action, incident, or behavior†did in fact “lead someone to end their livesâ€.
One further point Dr. Grohol. You say, “it’s wrong to believe it was the only possible trigger for this woman.†But Doctor, I’ve never indicated that!! In my original comment I took pains to point out that a necessary ingredient was that this woman lacked the ability to cope with the huge embarrassment she’d brought upon herself and others. As I put it in my first comment, I believe these extreme circumstances caused an “entirely normal, non-depressed person who didn’t have good defenses against shame to feel such intense humiliation that it was unbearable, literally unbearable.â€
I have never heard the phrase “hated on” before. And I am unsure what the author means by “completely (losing) it.” Is this another euphemism for a psychotic state such as “going off the rails”?
I do not “hate” the DJs but I do find such immature behavior as “punking” or “goofing” to be intolerable from “celebrities.” Yes I do partially blame them! I do not “tweet” or use Facebook or other such instant messaging in our society today–social networking has reduced our society to reductio ad absurbum.
Where did intelligent discourse go? Surely you remember the Rutgers student Dharun Ravi who used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate. ….. He knowingly video taped, then broadcast the video to others, …And the gay freshman roommate Tyler Clementi who was spied upon leapt to his death. The jury felt that Ravi’s actions were definitely a contributing factor to Tyler’s suicide. (Albeit that was not the legal point he was prosecuted for , but it was front and center for the entire trial. Ravi received a jail sentence for his actions. This was “society” saying: “Enough is enough.” This was brutality. Willard Mitt Romney displayed the same type of bullying behavior when he led the attack on a gay classmate when he was in a private prep school. Encouraging his group of “friends” to subdue the young gay man and then to cut off his long hair was decidedly cruel…not “just” immaturity.
Yes. This woman probably had a long-standing history of mental instability/illness. But she seemed to be coping well enough to get her nursing degree and then to work each day. Anything to do with the “royals” is front page tabloid news. If this nurse’s mental status was fragile, the ridiculous behavior of these DJs could have placed this shameful spotlight on her and could easily have put her over the edge and YES I think they are partially responsible and NO I have not “lost it.”
The Rutgers jury would have agreed with me. A large percentage of Americans also believed that Ravi should have been jailed for his outrageous behavior. It is time for maturity in the world. The DJs should be fired. If I were the nurse’s family I would sue the hell out of these Aussies.
Enough is enough Dr. Grohol! We really do need to return to some sort of “sanity.” Explain to your readers why these DJs should NOT be punished for some culpability.
the only thing you can say for sure is that she was Indian, and the Asian cultures take their duties and honour MUCH MORE SERIOUSLY than the Western ones. I am getting upset to see a hard worker nurse being considered sick with NO RESPECT for her cultural roots. How can you e speculate on her mental state?
It is a society that lives and dies by internet behaviors as the trend setter these days. Quick fix, quick answers, quick laughs, quick retribution.
Too many of us bye into it and rationalize, minimize, or just deny the consequences. It’s like reading about the woman who posted a picture of herself giving the finger and pretending to be yelling at the grave of the unknown soldier, and what did it erode to? Sites calling for her to be fired!
What?! Is this what we have regressed to? Yep!
And the use of the word “bye” was not a typo, but for me a bit of a Freudian slip. We are leaving the real world when we go on the net, so it is goodbye and not “buy” in the end.
Wait till the deceased person’s heirs file a wrongful death civil legal action. We will see who has the last laugh.
I believe the doctor is trying to say that although this incident may have triggered the suicide the nurse probably already had a history of depression known or unknown. Most people who suicide will end up doing it anyway.
It’s very sad but these 2 people cannot be held responsible for her death.
but they can be with identity fraud.
I’m guessing most suicide victims aren’t globally humiliated.
Why didn’t Dr. Grohol weigh that factor in his musings? Most remiss.
Furthermore no assessment of cultural expectation placed upon the victim.
The nurse was Indian, and if you had any contact with the Indian culture you would know that they take their duties VERY SERIOUSLY, just like the Japanese culture do.
Do NOT look at this with Western concepts. The idiotic DJs forgotten that we live in a multicultural city that is London, and different cultures react differently to bullying. She felt she failed her employers and patients, possibly. and if this was indeed suicide, the reaction could even be foreseen.
Hope that these idiots remember that the world is not made only of thir shallow and stupid lack of concepts. People with dignity react when they feel they have failed the ones that rely on their responsibility, and accordingly to their culture.
What’s with the “harmless prank” Dr? As a medical professional you should know how valuable Private information is about someones private health status. So in no way was that a “prank”. it was a deliberate act of fraud to gain such information for personal gain, ie fame. However I do believe your correct on most part of your view, such no one wouldved cared if it wasnt attached to a celebrity. but unfortunately it’s based around the idea of a “harmless prank”. Again a prank is one thing but fraudulently trying to get someones information about their health stays is not. I see one of the DJs ( Mel Grieg) is seeking medical treatment, maybe someone should impersonate her family members to gain access to her health status. For prank purposes only of course. If I was your patients I’d feel a bit uncomfortable about how your so blaise about private health information.
Any health facility or hospital that takes in celebrities should have a simple authentication system in place to verify incoming calls. If anyone is to share blame here, it is the lack of such a system at this hospital — meaning they seemingly didn’t much care about their patients’ privacy.
To lay that sort of responsibility on an aide or nurse untrained in such security procedures is unconscionable. Especially with the media attention a royal would bring to such a facility.
Of course these DJ’s are to blame, think about the situation the nurse is in: The future queen of england is having morning sickness and is trying to keep the publicity low on her condition and the reasons behind her admission to hospital and this nurse is tricked into giving these DJ’s the low-down on her condition and the intimate details on her ‘retching’ and vomiting and whatever, and now the royal family is up in arms about how ridiculous the situation is and this poor nurse is getting all this publicity on how she has exposed the ‘future queen’ and gotten the royal family fuming, that is a bloody big reason to kill yourself! That royal family is put up on the biggest pedastel as so great and magnificent and now imagine you just got them angry and exposed in the press? Think twice ‘Doctor’
See my above reply about security procedures not being in place at this hospital to screen such calls appropriately. It is the hospital’s responsibility to protect their patients and their patient’s privacy. Such procedures shouldn’t fall to untrained aides and nurses who know nothing about security for celebrities’ health information.
DJs, reporters, journalists, and attention-seekers have been calling hospitals for decades seeking information about a celebrity staying at their facility — this is nothing new. To suggest one profession or one set of people should be called-out for behavior that’s done everyday by a group of hundreds of people around the would is short-sighted and reactionary at best.
Sorry Dr … in the UK, a nurse, just like a Dr, has a professional duty to maintain patient confidentiality. This lady was entirely justified to be concerned. I presume that the hospital investigation and the NMC investigation will identify system failings. Those investigations will have to go ahead and any breach of confidentiality would be a disciplinary matter. If someone with a professional duty is not screening calls, then who is? Perhaps the hospital’s system could have been “we give no information to anyone on the phone without a pre arranged codeword”. Anything less would mean that family members who care about their relatives and want to get an update (and can’t visit) wouldn’t be able to.
Absolutely, I agree.
But the vast majority of people who get reprimanded on the job don’t kill themselves. Also, the vast majority of people who get fired from their job don’t kill themselves.
The hospital surely reprimanded the nurse, I would suggest she was sacked and possibly threatened with deportation. That’s the sort of action one would expect from that sort of mistake in that environment.
I’m inclined to agree with Barry. I’m surprised at the lack of curiosity about what hospital administration may have done/said to those involved after the incident. You can bet they were seriously embarrassed. Like Dr Grohol, I don’t want anyone blamed but if, as a result of this incident, hosopitals were to review their follow-up procedures to make them more humane, that would be a positive outcome out of this very sad event.
Firstly, I’m totally gobsmacked at the amount of press this matter has attracted. Isn’t there anything else going on in the world? Secondly, I find it impossible to believe that one prank phone call would cause any level headed person to suddenly commit suicide. I feel that she must have had suicidal tendencies prior to the phone call. Thirdly, the two DJ’s are not to blame for the nurses death. Other people in her life probably played a greater part in her demise but are not taking any blame. Ultimately the only person responsible for her death was herself. I hope she has found peace and I hope the DJ’s are able to go back to their lives unscathed by this event.
This article, as with almost all of the reporting doesn’t seem to understand what falling for this joke actually meant for the Nurse. She breached confidentiality for a high profile client, she faced loosing her job and likely her accreditation as a nurse. You are not allowed give out ANY information over the phone like that (usually with high profile patients there will be a system of passwords in place for those who contact the hospital for information) she would of been in very serious trouble with the hospital and faced loosing her entire career because of a mistake. That’s a big enough live issue to influence suicide, it likely didn’t have much to do with feeling bad for falling for a joke.
Hi everyone who actually may read this.
I have over the last couple of days suddenly become aware of the reactions of “society and government” to this prank.
I am located on the Gold Coast in Australia. My youngest son Dallas has had a serious portal vein throbosis condition diagnosed over 13 months ago which is being treated with clexane(a short molecule heparin)…
Last night he was admitted to a remote country town hospital with a bleeding condition. He was this morning transferred to a large country town hospital where he is currently in ICU. When I rang the hospitals concerned….
Would you believe, they would not give me any information on his condition because of privacy issues and they “could not confirm my identification over the phone”? I am a very concerned parent who is nearly 2000km away.
What are concerned family and friends supposed to do now????