You just have. However, not a single one of us can put ourselves in that woman's mind, we don't know her values, her up bringing, her exact culture, we don't know if she loved royalty, adored Dianna/the Queen/William, or whatever.

While killing herself may be seen as mental health issues to one person, it doesn't mean that it was an on-going problem. Maybe that in this instance, she was perfectly stable beforehand, and this took her to a wretched place that she saw no escape from.

As an aside, many people do a great job in their workplace with mental health issues and/or depression. It does not stop them from doing a great job and doesn't preclude them from being a nurse.

Very true but I fear that is what the OP wanted a reaction. Who can say what that poor woman went through, it may have been a tipping point we will never know. What we do know is it was cruel and should never have happened.

Yup.

Funnily enough, since writing my response to the post above, I've realized I screwed something up for one of my clients. Nothing confidential but I'm devastated. I'm so angry with myself, I'm replaying how it could of possibly happened, I've apologized and said I'll call the clients to personally to apologize. I've thought about resigning, my stomach is churning, I've just shouted at my husband, I'm embarrassed.

The reason I'm beating myself up is because I care, not because I'm mentally incapable of doing my job, and it's at most 120 holiday letters.


If i can do this to myself over something that is relatively inconsequential, no-one can possibly put themselves in the position of a poor nurse who transferred the call to the department and got world wide press coverage and humiliated around the world.

Poor woman, poor family.....

I know people from India and they are very proud people and i believe they would kill themselves if shamed like this nurse was.

Well lets hope the silly cow has learnt her lesson from this and actually uses one of her two brain cells and thinks before she tries to prank someone again and let's hope the other one has learned a lesson or two too - very sad either way xxx

One can only imagine the bollocking she got from the senior management when Wills found out about this. I expect she was terrified. It makes more sense than killing yourself over an inane prank. One thing I find odd is that the hospital has accused the DJs of being responsible for her death before even a post-mortem has been done. I'm sure this must be defamation of character in some way. Very unprofessional and I'm surprised they had the nerve to do it actually.

I don't understand why the British gutter press are giving ethics lectures to a lot of Australians.

Perhaps they see attack as the best form of defence. They are saying they hadn't disciplined her, had been very supportive and someone was 'planning to have a word with her at some stage'. I find that appalling in itself. When something like this happens the employee should be spoken to immediately - not be given 'a bollocking' but to be given a chance to say what happened from their side as part of a proper investigation of what happened and why. She should have had the possible consequences explained to her and since they are saying they didn't blame her they could at least have offered some reassurance that she was not going to be in very serious trouble or lose her job. Instead it seems she was left to worry by herself and away from her family.
It is difficult to imagine how that might lead to suicide but like Trixie I can understand how someone who really cares might get to that position. A few years ago I was working as maternity leave cover for a Dr's receptionist. Another of the receptionists got pregnant and I happened to mention to the Practice Manager that I had discussed this with my husband and that if she wanted me to, would stay on longer to cover the 2nd pregnancy as well. She didn't say anything at the time but a few days later I was hauled in front of one of the Drs and questioned as to why I had discussed confidential patient information with my husband. It was one of the most mortifying experiences of my life and upset me terribly. I was twice the age of the nurse with a supportive husband and I didn't need the job but I was severely shaken. If my mistake had been broadcast over the internet and been the subject of discussion worldwide, I think I would have wanted to crawl into a hole and die as well.

Unbelievable. Some perspective was needed here because you have a right to discuss your job with your husband. They don't mind storing innocent people's DNA on record for ever but God forbid someone might mention to their husband that a colleague is pregnant. What a joke.

I agree as well with your point about the internet/embarrassment, etc.

No doubt this is a tragedy. It just is... Period. There is simply no arguing that point.

But the investigation isn't over yet, and it's much too easy to just blame a few pranksters who were only conducting a stupid prank, which, in this case, if the tragic events that followed hadn't taken place, many of us would have found to be just another amusing embarrassment for the hospital or the Royals... I don't think anyone could have predicted this outcome.

Certainly you can argue this prank was unnecessary, but at this point, I have to suspect that this woman had other problems which contributed in a major way to this tragedy. I for one, find it terribly hard to believe that someone in a stable mental condition would be inclined to take their own life over this stupid incident without significant other factors being involved.

Yet, here we are en masse - quickly laying blame for a tragedy that virtually nobody would ever have guessed could be the result of a stupid prank (just read the foregone conclusion in the title of this thread).

But we like blame. We have been raised to believe everything is someone else's fault (or that someone is at fault for everything). It's conveniently become a basic expectation of our culture. We rarely take the time to think rationally about those things which we find deplorable, nor realise that WE are often the very cause of what we object to.

It is a tragedy. For everyone involved. But who is really at fault here? Or is this just another of life's tragedies that we can't honestly blame on anyone?

we have a person who was living in nurses accommodation in London whilst also having a home with family in Bristol.
perhaps the strains put onto certain workers within the NHS, including working hours, have an element to play.

I read in an news article that the hospital only had receptionists to answer incoming calls during working hours, out of the 9-5 or similar then it was left to nurses on shift - who are also reduced in numbers "out of hours", in a 24/7/365 "service".

There may be more things that will come out as time goes by.
But I would imagine the hospital management are diving for cover.


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I totally agree, and I would suggest that this "blame culture" hasn't quite taken over in Spain yet, at least not to the extent it has in the US and the UK. (This comment should probably be on the cultural differences thread ...) But maybe the Spanish are more fatalistic about things? The will of God, Fate or whatever?

Good points Amideislas

Modern society is to blame! It's a sick state of affairs, when people think it's great fun to make someone look stupid, and then broadcast it to the world.
I don't think that modern humour (if you can call it that), is at all funny, most of it is just plain stupidity. Give me 'Dads Army' etc. any day!!!
Pranks like this are perhaps O.K. among friends, but even then, we should be very sure how they will be received before we enter into them.
We should all take responsibility for the way things are. sadly I think it's too late to do anything about it!

You've apparently never lived in Germany.

Precious few things happen in Germany that aren't somebody's fault, somebody gets blamed for, and is ordered to pay damages. The German blame culture is rife. Along with jealousy and a number of other undesirable neighbourly character traits.

The Spanish seem to prefer to avoid lawyers and courts at all costs. For good reason. Once you file a denuncia, things can become very complicated and expensive...