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Three days after being duped by Australian radio presenters during a royal phone prank, a London nurse is dead.

Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was unable to be revived after being found unconscious at an address near London's exclusive King Edward VII Hospital at 9.35am (local time) on Friday.

Here's a link that works (the Australian one didn't, earlier):
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... found-dead" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While bizarre, it sounds like a coincidence. There is no suspicion of foul play. <--- Now they are saying it was suicide (I was listening to the BBC on the radio).

I can't resist adding that some of the garbage that "media" people do makes me wonder if the freedom of the press is worth it. They obsess over every hairball that these useless "royals" cough up, along with second-rate actors, athletes, etc.

- Jim

It is not mentioned how she died. Only that it was a suicide. Will a newscaster on Entertainment Tonight or Costas go on a rampage against guns again?

It wasn't ruled a suicide. That was just a hypothesis. Like any civilized country, they will have to do an autopsy and perform toxicology tests.

Nurses have access to drugs that could kill a herd of horses. Medical people who commit suicide almost always use drugs.

I didn't realize earlier that this was the top news story of the day, apparently because it has some connection to the useless British royal family. Did I say useless enough times?

It looks like the radio "personalities" involved have future careers in lawn maintenance or pizza delivery.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:Here's a link that works (the Australian one didn't, earlier):
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... found-dead" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While bizarre, it sounds like a coincidence. There is no suspicion of foul play. <--- Now they are saying it was suicide (I was listening to the BBC on the radio).

I can't resist adding that some of the garbage that "media" people do makes me wonder if the freedom of the press is worth it. They obsess over every hairball that these useless "royals" cough up, along with second-rate actors, athletes, etc.

- Jim

You do realize that the First Amendment only applies to the USA, right? Not GB or the Ausies?

I may be uglier than homemade sin, but I'm not stupid or ignorant.

Obviously the United States Constitution applies only to the United States. Other countries have bills of rights and laws that define freedom of the press in their jurisdiction.

The United Kingdom had a bill of rights in the 17th century. Many clauses of that bill of rights -- including the right to keep and bear arms -- were inherited by the American colonies and other places where English common law took hold, such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

- Jim

What "royally" POs me about this is that the radio DJs are being blamed for the nurse being dead. All they did was make a prank phone call. If something happened to the nurse because of the phone call, there is a much greater issue that led to her death.

seamusTX wrote:I may be uglier than homemade sin, but I'm not stupid or ignorant.

Obviously the United States Constitution applies only to the United States. Other countries have bills of rights and laws that define freedom of the press in their jurisdiction.

The United Kingdom had a bill of rights in the 17th century. Many clauses of that bill of rights -- including the right to keep and bear arms -- were inherited by the American colonies and other places where English common law took hold, such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

- Jim

My Apologies!

What ever happened to those 17th century rights?

sjfcontrol wrote:What ever happened to those 17th century rights?

Long story short, people decided they would rather be safe than free. Now to some extent they are neither.

In fairness to the Brits, they had decades of terrorism from the Irish Republican Army (which by the 1990s was really a bunch of thugs and anarchists), the like of which we have never had in this country, and just about the time that was settled the Muslims started to get into it.

They have lost the right to keep or bear arms or defend themselves. Bail, search and seizure, self-incrimination, and due process rights all are curtailed.

They still have a large degree of press freedom, but it's wasted on this kind of juvenile behavior and smut.

- Jim

MasterOfNone wrote:What "royally" [irritates] me about this is that the radio DJs are being blamed for the nurse being dead. All they did was make a prank phone call. If something happened to the nurse because of the phone call, there is a much greater issue that led to her death.

I agree that you can't force someone to commit suicide, at least not that readily. They said the nurse was not disciplined or blamed for anything.

OTOH, impersonating people is wrong. It may or may not have been illegal in this case, but most "prank" phone calls amount to fraud, illegal threats (like bomb scares), or harassment. Years ago I got a spate of hang-up call. They sometimes called 50 times an hour. It probably was just kids, but I can tell you it was annoying.

There is a tendency sometimes to think that an act either is illegal or perfectly OK. There is a broad area where activities that aren't strictly illegal are social nuisances, rude, demeaning, unnecessarily annoying, etc.

- Jim

Words like "prank" or terms like "practical joke" (and all the other incarnations with the same meaning) are euphemisms for deliberately causing pain for others.

I know some would declare that only the "humorless" don't enjoy practical jokes or pranks.

My interpretation of such things: Inflicting hurt simply isn't funny.

Those who think otherwise need to get to see psychiatrist, understand what motivates them and perhaps see the light...

There's a narrow range where it may be fun and not hurt anyone, but it's pretty narrow, like putting plastic bugs in the breakfast cereal. Even that kind of thing gets old after a while.

One time when I was in college one of my friends called when I was out (we had a common pay phone). He said it was the doctor's office and "the rabbit died," which used to be a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. I got a lot of ribbing, but I knew perfectly well that I hadn't gotten anyone pregnant.

Quite often I've seen people do things that are hurtful or damaging and then pass it off as their "irrepressible, boyish sense of humor."

- Jim

I'm not suggesting that pranks are a good thing or are harmless. But someone overreacting in such a manner as suicide shouldn't make the act of the prank somehow worse. Consider oneself having a moment of weakness while driving and flipping off another driver. If that driver decides he's sick of people picking on him and drives his car off the bridge because he can't handle rude drivers anymore, would we really blame the flipper for the suicide?

The consequences of an action do determine how we judge it, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Many of not most drivers exceed the speed limit from time to time. I do, when I consider it prudent. If I simply get caught on radar it's a rather expensive ticket.

A speeding driver who is involved in a wreck will get 100% of the blame, both financially and morally if anyone is injured.

(The same goes for a negligent discharge. If the bullet goes into the ground, no harm, no foul. If it injures or kills someone, it probably would result in criminal charges.)

That said, we don't even know for sure that the woman committed suicide, of if she did, whether the prank had anything to do with it. Maybe she took an accidental overdose. Maybe she had a stroke. Maybe she was chronically depressed. We just don't know.

The media have a long, shameful record of piling on people who are innocent or at worst committed an act of poor judgment. I always think of Richard Jewell, who was falsely associated with the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing. He was publicly ridiculed for being overweight, working a low-wage security job, being single, living with his mother, etc. TV comedians made jokes about him.

He was one of the few people to become moderately wealthy as a result of winning libel suits, but he had to go through a nightmare to get there. (He died in 2007).

- Jim

Abraham wrote:Words like "prank" or terms like "practical joke" (and all the other incarnations with the same meaning) are euphemisms for deliberately causing pain for others.

I know some would declare that only the "humorless" don't enjoy practical jokes or pranks.

My interpretation of such things: Inflicting hurt simply isn't funny.

Those who think otherwise need to get to see psychiatrist, understand what motivates them and perhaps see the light...

I tend to agree with all of Abraham's comments. I know I have a sense of humor, but it doesn't apply to "practical jokes".

Recently, our group at work moved into a new office area. One day I found a cup on my desk labeled "Bad Beads" [one of our in-process products are "beads"]. They are round and made from composite material - like small marbles or ball-bearings.

When I picked up the cup to throw it in my wastebasket, the beads fell out all over the floor. The jokesters had cut out the bottom of the paper cup. I laughed along with them, but though they should have gotton over this kind of stuff in junior high. They swept up the beads off the floor.

I don't want to be the guy who says "you will put your eye out", but I could have knocked over a cup of hot coffee, slipped on the beads, or if I was really jumpy knocked something, hit my hand, arm, knee etc and gotten hurt. There have been several people in the production area who have slipped on the beads and fell.