Miscellaneous Celebrity News

[ness]

One other thing about the phone prank that's been playing around in the back of my mind . . .

If I understood what I thought I read --- and, as usual, anybody please feel free to correct me if I am wrong --- "The prank call was pre-recorded and vetted by lawyers before being broadcast in Sydney." That says to me that LAWYERS (!?) heard this and thought it'd be OK to air that?

Questions:

1. If these lunatics didn't have SOME idea that they were perhaps playing with what could turn out to be a fire of SOME substance, why in the hell did they feel the need to have LAWYERS listen to and OK the tape of the call before they aired it?

2. Exactly WHAT "schools" do lawyers in Sydney get their law degrees from?

3. Was/is EVERYBODY who works at/for that radio station in any capacity at all (even down to being a lawyer who listens to and vets walking-a-fine-line tapes before they're aired) born in a cesspool, hatched beneath a full moon, or completely lacking any common sense, decorum and compassion?

Just askin'.

[captain]

What they did was not illegal, immoral yes.

[ness]

What they did was not illegal, immoral yes.

Oh, sure, captain.

I know.

That's why I ended by asking if any of 'em had any common sense, decorum or compassion.

[BlondeOne]

You know what I love about FORT the most? That we can disagree with each other without it getting crazy, out of hand. I have been on other boards where this would be 50 pages of people "screaming" at each other for not agreeing.

My heart goes out to her family. I also think there had to be other things going on with her. While this was a bad mistake it was certainly not worth killing yourself over.
The fact that the AU radio station had lawyers check it out first seems very sketchy to me...they needed someone to tell them it was ok or what?

On a little different note...I have seem all of this stuff about what the baby will be named. I don't like any of them LOL. If it is a girl her name should be Diana. I feel very strongly about it. Good thing I am not royalty because they would disown me for never following the rules LOL.

[KatesMom]

Thanks, KatesMom!

I always learn so much from your posting and insights!

Except for the observation that I'd call the police before (or after) I'd probably go looking for my cousin's tormentors (in my scenario; and yes, stupid, I'll admit), frankly, specific crimes that would've possibly been committed against her --- and what might actually be actionable, later on --- never crossed my mind, and I learned a lot from your response.

Where Kate's case and my "What if?" scenario dovetailed (in my view, at least) centered on just the idea of people that were doing nothing but what they happened to be doing at a given time (my cousin), or were SUPPOSED to be doing at a given time (the switchboard operator, the nurse), and bothering no one else. Then, along come idiots (the street thugs, the DJs) who think that it's amusing to make a person/serious situation the center of an infantile "joke" or "prank". Never giving a thought or a tinker's damn that perhaps someone or some persons might possibly suffer long-term or permanent harm as a result of their "joke", or "prank".

Did the DJs play any physical, direct part in this lady's demise? Absolutely not. Was there something going on with her that she allowed this to push her over the edge completely? I'm no psychologist or psychiatrist, but yes, I absolutely believe that. I put the final blame for her death squarely on HER shoulders.

But I am also a believer that --- even if the lady hadn't chosen to take her life --- the DJs in question are at LEAST responsible for setting up a situation wherein something else tragic might possibly have happened. Like Kate losing her baby.

And then, to add insult to injury and KEEP trumpeting what they'd done on Twitter?

Please.

And I agree with you that there are plenty of people out there who find what those idiots did to be amusing and cheered them on. I read a few of those comments, myself, until I just got too disgusted and chose to stop. And I agree with you and shay that there are people out there who HAVE no conscience.

And, yes, I still think the DJs should be made to answer for their actions.

And like FM said, above, it seems they already HAVE:

Jacintha Saldanha death: Australian DJs Mel Greig and Christian Michael taken off air after 'sick prank' | Mail Online.

My thoughts on this - who's fault is it really that this happened and that the DJs were allowed to get through and actually talk to the nurse? I mean think about it from the other side - this is royalty, and the future wife of the king carrying the heir?! How was there such a huge lapse in security that the DJs were able to get through and get personal information? I hate what the DJs did, but they were just idiots being idiots. If the proper procedures had been in place and security was doing what it was put in place for, the most they should have been able to get was an amusing (perhaps) conversation with the first nurse as she walked them through the security procedures and then told them she couldn't put the call through. So was it obnoxious? Absolutely. And do I think it was in poor taste? Yes, I do. But is the real fault with the hospital workers and others who did not have the security procedures in place? Absolutely. I think, quite frankly, that is what the palace is really angry about. They need to be able to rely on the fact that when they put these procedures in place, that others will follow them. My guess is they will re-work things for any future hospital stays.

[Shoepie]

See, I don't think you can compare the two. As silly and stupid as the prank call was, it was nowhere near the same as being kicked, ridiculed, lied about, spat on, and all the other things bullies do to their victims. Bullies target victims directly. They know their target, whereas, I don't think the DJ's called the hospital, hoping to dupe that nurse specifically.



Assuming the woman heard the doctor's warnings about the danger of consuming that much water, she should have given serious consideration to their words, since they are the experts in that sort of thing. And if she did hear them speak to the serious potential dangers, and still chose to drink that amount of water just the same, ultimately she is the one to blame for what happened to her, as horrible as it was.

The DJ's in the water tragedy, and the DJ's of the prank call were most definitely irresponsible, yes, but i don't think they should be held accountable for either of the deaths in these situations.

I agree. It is unlikely that the call caused the nurses suicide. The hospital supported her, the staff adored her and prince Charles joked about it. She answered the call and did not give any information; she forwared it to Kates ward. A woman does not choose to kill herself, leaving her 2 children motherless without a lot more going on in her life. It makes no sense.

[KatesMom]

One other thing about the phone prank that's been playing around in the back of my mind . . .

If I understood what I thought I read --- and, as usual, anybody please feel free to correct me if I am wrong --- "The prank call was pre-recorded and vetted by lawyers before being broadcast in Sydney." That says to me that LAWYERS (!?) heard this and thought it'd be OK to air that?

Questions:

1. If these lunatics didn't have SOME idea that they were perhaps playing with what could turn out to be a fire of SOME substance, why in the hell did they feel the need to have LAWYERS listen to and OK the tape of the call before they aired it?

2. Exactly WHAT "schools" do lawyers in Sydney get their law degrees from?

3. Was/is EVERYBODY who works at/for that radio station in any capacity at all (even down to being a lawyer who listens to and vets walking-a-fine-line tapes before they're aired) born in a cesspool, hatched beneath a full moon, or completely lacking any common sense, decorum and compassion?

Just askin'.

From a lawyer's perspective (and please don't hate me!!): when clients come to me wanting me to review things I am only reviewing them to make sure no laws are being broken, which is probably what the lawyer's were doing here - including making sure there weren't issues because a third party's voice was on the phone. I can tell you that I can talk to my client's until I am blue in the face about what a bad idea something is and that I wouldn't advise that they proceed. But at the end of the day, that's all it is - advice, that the client can choose to follow or not. I can't control what my client's do - I can only warn them of the potential ramifications - which I assume the lawyer's did in this case.

[Fanny Mare]

The nurse that killed herself may have hated being laughed about, or talked about. As with all things Karma, the DJ's have it much worse, they are really disliked. I dont think we will see them doing any prank calls again!! especially if they have to be cleared , or reviewed by a lawyer

[Tilden]

I'm uncomfortable with the notion that the only one to blame is the person who committed suicide and that she "chose" to do that, regardless of how it would hurt her family. If you accept the idea that this woman committed an irrational act for reasons none of us really knows at this point--and maybe no one will ever know, if she kept whatever previous distress she might have been feeling to herself--then it wasn't really a choice, because she wasn't mentally or emotionally in a position to make an actual decision in the way that most people do, by logically considering the ramifications of her actions. If she were in a bad enough state, she might honestly have felt it was best for her family/friends if she were gone as well as alleviating whatever pain she was feeling herself by committing suicide.

I know it would be easier if there were someone/something that we could clearly blame in this situation, but it may not be possible. I personally think what the DJs did was incredibly stupid and really not even funny, so I'm not sure what the point of the prank was. I'm also surprised that the security with regard to Kate's medical information was so lax (as someone else pointed out, the hospitals I've dealt with have stricter rules about releasing private information about any patient, much less the information of a public figure), but I don't know what the normal procedure is at British hospitals either. And I'm sad that this nurse felt that what she'd done was something with which she could no longer live and that the people who cared about her now have to deal with her death. But it seems to me that there's too many circumstances piling up here that we may not fully understand yet. Or perhaps ever will.

[ness]

My thoughts on this - who's fault is it really that this happened and that the DJs were allowed to get through and actually talk to the nurse? I mean think about it from the other side - this is royalty, and the future wife of the king carrying the heir?! How was there such a huge lapse in security that the DJs were able to get through and get personal information? I hate what the DJs did, but they were just idiots being idiots. If the proper procedures had been in place and security was doing what it was put in place for, the most they should have been able to get was an amusing (perhaps) conversation with the first nurse as she walked them through the security procedures and then told them she couldn't put the call through. So was it obnoxious? Absolutely. And do I think it was in poor taste? Yes, I do. But is the real fault with the hospital workers and others who did not have the security procedures in place? Absolutely. I think, quite frankly, that is what the palace is really angry about. They need to be able to rely on the fact that when they put these procedures in place, that others will follow them. My guess is they will re-work things for any future hospital stays.

Agreed.

And this is not the FIRST breach of security that ever happened with these royals in recent/modern times.

This was several years ago, but I seem to recall an incident where some guy actually got through Buckingham Palace security one morning and QEII awoke to find him sitting on the end of her bed!?

Whoah.

Or--- again, several years ago --- another incident where Anne, and her then-husband, Mark, were accosted in a kidnapping attempt in a car. From what I understand, a gun was involved, and Anne fought the guy off.

Double "Woah!".

And, more recently: Harry and his Vegas romp. How many of us on this board and across the country and world were asking what was up with his security detail that would've allowed a debacle of this nature to've occurred.

Um, OK.

Add ANOTHER "Woah!".

Sure, there should've been a better --- or, actually, an EXISTING, maybe? --- set-up for calls coming into the hospital having to do with getting medical information on Kate (or anybody ELSE, for that matter!). I completely understood what captain said above about not being able to access info on anybody in a hospital without their having to give a password. They roll the SAME way in my neck of the woods, too. I don't care if you show up in person, announce that you're God Almighty, and fork over a PICTURE ID to prove you're who you say you are. If you're not on an approved list to be the recipient of medical info, or cannot provide a password when/if you call, you'll be waiting 'til the Second Coming before you're told ANYTHING.

And, as of this writing, the latest I've heard so far from the hospital is a lot of bluster and sabre-rattling about their security measures being "under review".

OK.

Kinda like closing the barn door after half of the horse has already gone out of it, IMHO.

Frankly, I can see and understand how and why the royals are and would be pissed.

If it were one of us and a security breach like this'd happened with one of our family members, I tend to believe that we'd be royally pissed, too.