Prank Royal phone call causes nurse to commit suicide

[Kristie]

The people who are to blame are the people who picked up the phone, dialled the number, and passed themselves off as family members.

Um, no. Part of the job of a nurse is to protect a patient's confidentiality. If a dude calls with a comical British accent claiming to be the queen, staff at the hospital should've at least questioned them a bit more before blabbing info over the damn phone.

Yes, but that is between the hospital and their staff member. Possibly between the family and the staff member.

But the blame lies with that production team.

How is it the production team's fault the hospital staff took a joke seriously because they were too incompetent to protect patient confidentiality?

[Jason]

Oh! Won't somebody think of the nurses!

They're all borderline you know.

[Pappa]

Here's a transcript of the call.

MEL GREIG: Oh hello there, could I please speak to Kate please, my granddaughter?

NURSE: Oh yes, just hold on ma’am.

GREIG: Thank you.

MICHAEL CHRISTIAN: Are they putting us through?

GREIG: Yes.

CHRISTIAN: If this has worked, it’s the easiest prank call we’ve ever made. Your accent sucked by the way, I just wanted you to know.

GREIG: I’m not used to playing old 80-year-olds.

[phone picks up]

GREIG: Kate my darling, are you there?

NURSE: Good morning, ma’am, this is the nurse speaking. How may I help you?

GREIG: Hello, I’m just after my granddaughter Kate. I wanted to see how her little tummy bug is going.

NURSE: She’s sleeping at the moment. And she had an uneventful night. And sleep is good for her. As we speak, she’s been getting some fluids to rehydrate her. She was quite dehydrated when she came in. But she’s stable at the moment.

GREIG: Okay, ill just feed my little corgies then.

CHRISTIAN: Lovely. But they’re all okay, everything’s alright?

NURSE: Yes, she’s quite stable at the moment. She hasn’t had any retching with me, since I’ve been on duty. And she’s been sleeping on and off.

CHRISTIAN: Wonderful.

NURSE: And I think it’s difficult sleeping in a strange bed as well.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, of course! It’s hardly the palace, is it?

GREIG: Oh, it’s nothing like the palace, is it, Charles?

The call ends abruptly because the DJs hung up thinking they'd be nabbed any sec with their terrible accents. The nurse I've marked in red is the one who killed herself. She took the call and passed it on. I'm finding it difficult to believe she killed herself over that. She may of killed herself over the media splashing her face everywhere but not because of the prank call itself. My own reckoning is there is something we're not told here and will wait for the inquiry.

If that's all correct, I have to agree. Plus, is seems the woman didn't do anything wrong. She just put another nurse on the phone.

[Kristie]

If that's all correct, I have to agree. Plus, is seems the woman didn't do anything wrong. She just put another nurse on the phone.

Depends on the policy at that hospital. The one I used to work at had strict policies about confidentiality. Just putting a call through to a certain unit or floor would divulge a small amount of info, different units are for different conditions. The second nurse was far more in the wrong though.

[Cormac]

Still doesn't change the culpability of that radio production crew, or the depravity of making a joke out of someone's serious medical condition.

Just because someone is a royal doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to medical privacy. Since when has it been ok to make a joke of this?

Since when has it been ok to deliberately do.something that will put an innocent person's job at risk if you succeed?

It is because they were reckless as to these outcomes that they ARE culpable for any consequences that flow. This follows the eggshell skull rule as it particularly applies in Tort law.

[Jason]

Still doesn't change the culpability of that radio production crew, or the depravity of making a joke out of someone's serious medical condition.

That's your moral judgement. It does not make them culpable.

Just because someone is a royal doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to medical privacy.

As Kristie pointed out, that responsibility lies with the hospital staff. They are the ones culpable.

Since when has it been ok to make a joke of this?

Personal moral judgement on the good or bad taste of a prank/joke does not make them culpable.

Since when has it been ok to deliberately do.something that will put an innocent person's job at risk if you succeed?

If the person is incompetent they deserve to lose their job. How is this a moral issue?

It is because they were reckless as to these outcomes that they ARE culpable for any consequences that flow. This follows the eggshell skull rule as it particularly applies in Tort law.

They were reckless.. in what way? Explain this in detail. It sounds like complete bollocks to me.

[hadespussercats]

You know what I keep picturing?

That the nurse isn't actually dead. After the radio show guys lose their jobs and their careers are ruined, she'll show up and say,
"who's laughing now, motherfuckers?"

[Cormac]

Still doesn't change the culpability of that radio production crew, or the depravity of making a joke out of someone's serious medical condition.

That's your moral judgement. It does not make them culpable.

Just because someone is a royal doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to medical privacy.

As Kristie pointed out, that responsibility lies with the hospital staff. They are the ones culpable.

Since when has it been ok to make a joke of this?

Personal moral judgement on the good or bad taste of a prank/joke does not make them culpable.

Since when has it been ok to deliberately do.something that will put an innocent person's job at risk if you succeed?

If the person is incompetent they deserve to lose their job. How is this a moral issue?

It is because they were reckless as to these outcomes that they ARE culpable for any consequences that flow. This follows the eggshell skull rule as it particularly applies in Tort law.

They were reckless.. in what way? Explain this in detail. It sounds like complete bollocks to me.

Reckless meaning that they proceeded regardless of the fact that their actions were going to cause damage to someone, and they did it anyway. This is a foundation of the Tort of Negligence under Common Law.

The issue of the competence of the nurses, or the security protocols of the royal household are separate matters entirely.


My reference to eggshell skull refers to another principle of Common Law, which is that if you behave "recklessly", you have to accept the existing condition of the people to whom you cause damage. So for example, if you push someone over and in the normal course of events all they'd sustain was a bump on the head, but in the event, they sustained severe brain damage due to their having an "eggshell skull", then you are responsible for the injury and the damage arising. It is not relevant that you could not be expected to know about the pre-existing condition. The law looks to the person who sustained damage, and says that a person with an eggshell skull is as entitled as anyone else to go about their business without being pushed over.

So the legal test is whether or not the person behaved "recklessly to damage that might accrue". In this case it is clear that from the outset, damage was going to accrue to any staff member who fell for the ruse.
The DJs initiated the call. They were the active party. They are to blame.

To suggest that it is the hospital's fault is akin to blaming a burglar's victim for leaving a window open. The victim might be stupid for doing so, but that has nothing to do.with the culpability of the burglar.

[Cormac]

You know what I keep picturing?

That the nurse isn't actually dead. After the radio show guys lose their jobs and their careers are ruined, she'll show up and say,
"who's laughing now, motherfuckers?"

That would be most gratifying.

[Cormac]

...and incidentally, I am not speaking from a lack of knowledge here. My first job was as an Industrial Relations Advisor, and amongst my 140 clients were several hospitals, a number of nursing homes, and some care homes for profoundly disabled people. I took part in many disciplinary procedures and quasi-judicial procedures arising.

Last year I qualified as a lawyer, having spent several years working in a legal practice.

My primary area is in financial services, but I remember my Tort law.

[Jason]

Still doesn't change the culpability of that radio production crew, or the depravity of making a joke out of someone's serious medical condition.

That's your moral judgement. It does not make them culpable.

Just because someone is a royal doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to medical privacy.

As Kristie pointed out, that responsibility lies with the hospital staff. They are the ones culpable.

Since when has it been ok to make a joke of this?

Personal moral judgement on the good or bad taste of a prank/joke does not make them culpable.

Since when has it been ok to deliberately do.something that will put an innocent person's job at risk if you succeed?

If the person is incompetent they deserve to lose their job. How is this a moral issue?

It is because they were reckless as to these outcomes that they ARE culpable for any consequences that flow. This follows the eggshell skull rule as it particularly applies in Tort law.

They were reckless.. in what way? Explain this in detail. It sounds like complete bollocks to me.

Reckless meaning that they proceeded regardless of the fact that their actions were going to cause damage to someone, and they did it anyway. This is a foundation of the Tort of Negligence under Common Law.

The issue of the competence of the nurses, or the security protocols of the royal household are separate matters entirely.


My reference to eggshell skull refers to another principle of Common Law, which is that if you behave "recklessly", you have to accept the existing condition of the people to whom you cause damage. So for example, if you push someone over and in the normal course of events all they'd sustain was a bump on the head, but in the event, they sustained severe brain damage due to their having an "eggshell skull", then you are responsible for the injury and the damage arising. It is not relevant that you could not be expected to know about the pre-existing condition. The law looks to the person who sustained damage, and says that a person with an eggshell skull is as entitled as anyone else to go about their business without being pushed over.

So the legal test is whether or not the person behaved "recklessly to damage that might accrue". In this case it is clear that from the outset, damage was going to accrue to any staff member who fell for the ruse.
The DJs initiated the call. They were the active party. They are to blame.

To suggest that it is the hospital's fault is akin to blaming a burglar's victim for leaving a window open. The victim might be stupid for doing so, but that has nothing to do.with the culpability of the burglar.

That still sounds like utter nonsense to me. They did not set out with the foreknowledge that they would cause someone 'damage' and I don't accept that they did cause said 'damage'. The application of the 'eggshell skull' common law in this instance seems to me to be absurd in the extreme. Before I continue, however, I have to ask you to define how their actions were 'reckless' (with a suitable legal definition of reckless if applicable) and what this 'damage' is that they supposedly caused so I don't start arguing down a blind alley.

[mistermack]

You can tell by the first nurse saying "maam" that they had been told what to say if the queen phoned.
And the fact is that both nurses were taken in. So all this hindsight of saying that they shouldn't have fallen for it is crap.
You don't know what they had been told, or what they were expecting.

They should have been given a proper procedure, not forced to decide what to do on the spot. They are nurses, not palace officials.
I'm sure they know exactly what to do for normal patients, but this was something completely outside their training.
Yes, if they'd treated the "queen" like anybody else, they wouldn't have come unstuck.
But you can bet that they were told that these royals had to get what they wanted in everything. And that's what they did.

[Jason]

You can tell by the first nurse saying "maam" that they had been told what to say if the queen phoned.
And the fact is that both nurses were taken in. So all this hindsight of saying that they shouldn't have fallen for it is crap.
You don't know what they had been told, or what they were expecting.

They should have been given a proper procedure, not forced to decide what to do on the spot. They are nurses, not palace officials.
I'm sure they know exactly what to do for normal patients, but this was something completely outside their training.
Yes, if they'd treated the "queen" like anybody else, they wouldn't have come unstuck.
But you can bet that they were told that these royals had to get what they wanted in everything. And that's what they did.

Objection your honour, supposition.

Sustained.

[Kristie]

I called women ma'am when I answered hospital phones. I wasn't expecting calls from royalty though. Just common courtesy.

[mistermack]

I called women ma'am when I answered hospital phones. I wasn't expecting calls from royalty though. Just common courtesy.

That's because it's an american word.
They don't use it here.