I can't believe I have to talk about this.
Have you ever played a phone prank? You know the ones; calling someone up pretending to be someone else and seeing how much you can get away with before they hang up, discover who you are or, alternatively, start throwing abuse at you.
What about pretending to be the Queen of England and her son, Prince Charles?
Well this was the case for two Australian DJ's and now...It's flooding my news feed.
For overseas readers, I here this news has made it to you too. That a little Sydney broadcasting station is now headline news all over the world. But for those who don't know what I'm talking about or for those people who know a little, I'll catch you all up.
Now firstly, I want to talk to you about this for a number of reasons.
1 - I'm Australian, I know the female involved (not personally of course, but she was also the host of The Top 30 Countdown, which I enjoy on a Saturday morning).
2 - It's flooding up my news feed. All breaking news involves the Presenters and/or the nurses involved - which I'll get to in a second.
3 - It has been blown way out of proportion and I think people are getting lost in fact and conspiracies.
4 - It involves a tragic loss and I want to give my own condolences - done properly and not in the form of abuse.
Now the story:
Two radio presenters rang up the British hospital where Kate was staying (with severe morning sickness) pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles.
To their surprise the receptionist put them through to Kate's ward, where a nurse answered the phone.
They asked how their "daughter-in-law" was going and if she was well.
The Nurse said (Kate) was sleeping and that she was feeling better; along with other information.
The radio hosts where dumbfounded.
The hospital fell for their dodgy accents and they had even given them information on the Princess.
It was a massive prank.
People around Australia where laughing while the rest of the world (especially the Mother Land) were furious! It made all sorts of headlines as the news read of a massive mistake and a massive prank.
Big news - but something that would have blown over in a couple of days.
And then, a terrible loss struck.
The nurse who was involved in the prank died of (what I believe was) suicide.
What was just a prank has now become a sad, sad story that should be recognised.
There are talks of the hospital suing the radio station.
The presenters have been sacked.
Advertisement has been pulled from the station.
And today I read that Mel and Michael (the hosts involved) are now getting counselling after being in an intense fragile state.
Some things I need to get off my chest:
The nurse,Jacintha Saldanha, 46, took her own life due to depression - now this is what I'm getting from my news, and this is all reporting allegations.
People have linked the prank to the reason she killed herself. We don't know this was the case.
I have no doubt that the scolding she would have gotten from her manager, her boss, even the head of the hospital, would have been severe. Surely they must have known about her fragile state and what happened wasn't her fault.
The cast irons they would have dished on her would have been harsh - and nobody deserves that, especially a hard working women such as herself.
Does anyone blame them? Do they look to them and are they suspects for pushing Ms Saldanha over the edge?
As you can imagine, social media has gone wild.
Tweets have gone off the hook, labelling the hosts as "murderers" and saying things like "they have blood on their hands."
Both have deleted their Twitter accounts and have gone into hiding basically.
There is a Facebook page known as, RIP Jacintha Saldanha. Shame upon those stupid Australian DJs,
which has been bombarded with hateful messages.
The Royal family, have made no formal complaint to the hospital nor the radio station, and seemed not to bothered by the events (this was before the death of Ms Saldanha.).
The prank was stupid.
Pranks are always stupid. I personally don't see the attraction into fooling somebody for your own humour-filled benefit.
The loss of the nurse is tragic and my condolences go to her family, friends and colleagues, and sorry that her death is publicised for the world to witness.
The hospital needs better protocols for this. It's their fault that this happened and the receptionist who picked the phone up should get her hearing checked out.
To Mel and Michael - if you could take it back, you would. I believe you are truly sorry for what happened and that the world is watching your every move.
And to anyone who posted anything hurtful about the indecent - put a lid on it.
The hosts have suffered enough.
The hospital has suffered enough.
And Ms Saldanha's family has suffered more than enough.
Please, let it go, and hopefully this will bring awareness to depression, and the pain it can inflict.
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