Royal prank, meant for laughs, ends in tragedy

(CBS News) LONDON -- We don't know why Jacintha Saldanha killed herself. No one who knows her has said.

But we do know that the London nurse, whose body was found this morning, was the subject of a prank this week that involved the royal family.

The nurse was working at the hospital where Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was being treated for morning sickness. She had passed a call through to Kate's ward, thinking the caller was the Queen.

But it was actually Michael Christian and Mel Greig, a pair of Australian DJs famous for hoaxes, who placed the call. And they were gloating about it all week.

"Can you believe what's happened today?" Christian said on his show.

"You know what, they were the worst accents ever," Greig responded.

Pity the poor nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, who was blindsided by the call.

"Oh hello there, could I please speak to Kate, my granddaughter," Greig said in a phony British accent.

"Oh yes, just hold on ma'am," Saldanha replied.

Australian radio jocks leave airwaves following nurse's death
Nurse in Duchess Kate hoax dead in apparent suicide

The call was put through to the ward nurse, who gave the hoax callers an update on Kate's condition.

The royal family made no complaint. The hospital apologized. The radio station apologized.

Prince Charles, Kate's father-in-law, even joked about it.

"How do you know I'm not a radio station?" he joked in an interview.

And the episode, while embarrassing, seemed to be over -- until the nurse's body was found.

The Australian radio station has now taken the offending DJs off the air and offered condolences.

While the police say they can't confirm a suicide until after an autopsy, the hospital says it had been supporting Jacintha Saldanha through what it called "the very difficult time" she was going through since she fell for the hoax call.

The Australian radio station had been boasting their hoax was "the prank call the world is talking about." The world is indeed talking about it -- but as a tragedy.

[NB62]

The 2 DJs have become scapegoats.Blaming then for this womans death is the easy way out.Has happen down through the years many times after some dramtic event.Everyone passes judgement and want to blame someone before all the facts are known.

[Apep2036]

I belive she was murdered, by people who can get away with murder.

[ForPol25]

I think people are missing the point here. This prank feels like the natural culmination of our society's insensitive and calamitous lack of respect for privacy and human dignity. Why? Because the audience that is English speaking culture is fascinated with scandal and the private lives of public figures, even if that figure is only public from a '15 minutes of humiliation' prank.

As many people have pointed out, there are many unknown components to this story, especially when it comes to the mental state of this woman. 97 times out of 100 this would be a non-story. This was a perfect storm of unfortunate events and circumstances.

In the end, I place very little of the blame with the DJs; just like MTV with 'Buckwild', they are only giving the audience what they want. Likewise, there is no point in trying to hold the victim responsible because that is out of our control. You can't tell someone who is suicidal to 'take responsibility for your life and your actions': addressing a deeply rooted psychological problem takes a strong support system and PROFESSIONAL help, which brings me to my point.

I believe that there is a ruthless, bloodthirsty nature to our culture that drives these events. Besides the overall problem that we force feed ourselves toxic garbage through media, there are a handful of key people on the ground in this case that affected the outcome. These are details we can only speculate about but it is worth doing so.

Where was her support system? Why didn't she seek help through her connections at work? Was it the nasty follow up from the media; was she dogged by the press? Was she harassed by a fanatic? The health care provider appears to have had her back, as did the Royal Family. Did her coworkers excoriate her? What role did her husband play in this? On top of her initial humiliation, was she further humiliated publicly by a boss or media member? This can go on and on...

But what really matters is: who had the chance to step in and make a difference in this woman's life before it was too late? What about our culture, the immediate and global community around this woman, led us to be so insensitive to her experience?

There will always be insensitive jerks; lets focus on what we can do. Those of us who don't fall in to this category (or those who would like to get on the wagon) need to take responsibility for the world around us. This, when it comes down to it, is about bullying. Who could have stood up for this woman when it really counted? What if you had the chance to tip the scale? Which coworker would you or I be in this situation?

[jmrskeek]

Wow. Thank goodness we have blow hards like this person to set us all straight. This whole story is ridiculous. Prince Charles was not in the least offended as well as non of the Royal family. Someone needs to get a life. The nurse killed herself for reasons so far unknown so please don't make a massive list of assumptions that you, an apparent hater of human nature did to write this piece of hot air.
Your school teacher wagging finger is not going to fix anything. I just hope you feel all better now that you got to rant in a world wide forum. But as for myself you don't speak for me or any other reasonable person.

[tvwatcher5345]

my girlfriend is a nurse, when we started going out i told her "that must be an awesome job, good money, and she'll always have work", now after being with her for three years i think her job sucks, the stress (particularly from the families), nurses can be sued, thrown in jail etc, she says she is lucky to get time to pee on her shift, they deal with people's lives, would the DJ's prank a nuclear facility? a military base? an air trafic control tower?, some people have no common sense these DJ's prove it

[joesapper]

interfering with a foreign diplomat is a crime , as long as the one has an office of diplomatic status in the host country .

so the question is , does either one { him or her } hold an office in the land of aus ?

a lesson will be taught for the protection of the future King ?

[varigdc10]

What in the world has what you are saying to do with this story?

[JV1970]

I realize this woman probably had mental problems before the hoax but situations like this are exactly why I hate jokes and pranks.

Pranksters don't realize the harm they can do. They don't think their pranks through to the end and think about the end result. They don't think about the fact that some people can't take much embarrassment especially if they have mental problems to begin with. It can send them over the edge as it apparently did with this lady.

I hope to someday see all practical joking taken off the airways worldwide. It should be against the laws in every country of the world.

I'm very glad to hear that the radio station has taken the program off the air and fired these two DJs and apologized to the royal family and the hospital. They should also apologize to this woman's family. The DJs should do the same although nothing they say or do will undo the harm they did.

I also hope the woman's family sues the radio station and the DJs and the DJs learn from this and never pull a prank like this again.

And another thing, I would never want to be in these DJs' shoes because now they have to live with the fact that their stupid prank caused a woman to commit suicide. A husband is without his wife and two children are without their mother. It would be unbearable to me to know that something I'd done caused such a tragedy!

[cynandwyn]

I don't believe she had mental problems I believe she was so devastated and embarrassed by the supposed prank of which I don't think is was a prank it was a radio station or some media outlet trying like that TMZ to get and report their findings. The world was already talking about it prior to her supposedly killing herself (probably was murdered)I am sure the nurse knew her life was going to be changed forever. The tabloids, news reporters and places who have no moral compass or honor should be ashamed. I don't think the public needed to know everything about movie stars, the Duchess, Queen or public figures. Folks have a right to some privacy. Where is the point of "going too far" or invasion of privacy? When it gets to the point like Princess Diana? No this poor nurse did have a mental problem. If an incident in someones life is earth shaking enough it is and can be the only straw needed to break you and destroy you.

[odin0]

I don't think she had mental problems because if she had it is impossible to continue to work. She was the victim of the prank. They should avoid prank in institution like this one. Next time when a real call is received and the receiver will be hesitated to transfer the call immediately. In the future someone can abuse this incident too. The receiver may not transfer the line and may say I thought it was just a prank. Now wherever these two guys go this shameful incident will follow them like a shadow.

[dj_chi]

That punk'd show, or even Candid Camera, did more "damaging" pranks than this. The woman just transferred a call!! Had she been ridiculed or humiliated over a personal issue, I'd see how this prank went too far. But all she did was take a call and transfer it! That isn't justification for suicide.

[soniesue]

Practical joke are NEVER funny. They always involve humiliation or embarrassment. Only cruel, mean people find them funny.

[JV1970]

I totally agree!

[decotoguy]

Let see here, what is a Nurse? a person trained to take CARE of the SICK, INJURED, or AGED.
what is a Hospital? a institution for providing and CARING for people who are ILL, INJURED, PREGNANT, etc.
I can't see a JOKE here. Am I thick headed? or too old?

[frankkburns]

The DJs are not to blame. They had some fun, imitating the queen, and why a nurse would kill herself over it is beyond me. What, no one can tell a joke anymore, because someone might commit suicide? No one can deal with emotion in anyway, because someone might get too happy or sad and die? You know the real cover up here is probably that the hospital staff put a lot of pressure on this nurse after the fact. That's what did her in, not just the funny call.

[shurch4truth]

She trusted them and then they put the weight of the laughing world on her....she could not bear it. That's OK to do?

[FlexoBendingRodriguez]

It's that attitude that exemplifies what's wrong with human society today.

[zorroaca44]

First they make a fool out of the poor woman ... then they laugh all week ... OH ... maybe she had other problems ... RIGHT ... take responsibility you jerks ... sue the station!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!