Nurse in Kate Middleton hoax found dead from likely suicide
I was shocked to hear on Friday that the nurse involved in
the Kate Middleton radio hoax was found dead in a likely suicide.
2DayFM radio DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian pretended
they were Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles to get information about the
Duchess of Cambridge’s hospital stay. The nurse accepted the call and
transferred the call to a fellow nurse, who gave the DJs confidential
information about the health of Middleton. The nurse who first accepted the
call was found dead three days later.
Embarrassment is a strong emotion. And sometimes, while in
that embarrassing situation, it’s hard to look forward and see a time when your
ordeal is not a talked about topic. For this nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, she was
publically embarrassed. And not just embarrassed locally – but around the
world. Maybe she was scared of repercussions – scared she would get fired for
transferring the call or scared the hospital would lose the royal family’s
business.
Many people have taken a stand against the radio show, which
was recently taken off the air indefinitely. And many strangers are now
supporting this woman. If only she would have known that people didn’t blame
her for what happened. Maybe then the outcome would have been different.
Whenever you hear about someone being in an embarrassing
situation – maybe a secret relationship getting out, a fall in economic status,
a mistake made, personal photos leaked or being ridiculed for no reason – make
sure to be there for them. Let them know that everyone makes mistakes and you
don’t think any differently of them because of it. Show them that this will
blow over and, soon, everyone will have new gossip to talk about.
I also want to caution people – don’t put so much blame on
the radio hosts. Don’t send them nasty emails.
It’s not rare for radio hosts to do prank calls. I hear
local radio hosts do it all the time. But, most of the time, pranks don’t take
such a wrong turn.
This situation is exactly why I have never liked pranks –
publically humiliating someone for sport. But there’s no way these two radio
hosts could have known this would be the outcome. In interviews following the
nurse’s death, the hosts said they had no idea their call would even go
through. This same thing could have happened to any radio host. But it didn’t.
It happened to these hosts who are now facing public hatred.
The tables are turned and the two radio hosts are the ones
receiving the public humiliation. And I, for one, hope they don’t go down the
same path as this nurse – wanting to escape the embarrassment. Because no
matter what happened, they don’t deserve that.
Read more: Radio hosts in Duchess Kate Middleton hoax tear up, apologize
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