Hospital Nurse Who Took Kate Hoax Call Found Dead

[numbers123]

Are you saying that if a nurse in the US believes to be on the phone with the President of the United States and he is asking about whether his daughter-in-law is better, she is simply going to say "Sorry Mr. President, confidentiality rules..." and hang up? Would the hospital fire a nurse for giving the President an update on his daughter-in-law?

There have been some incidents like this (maybe not the president, but high profile people) and nurses or other hospital employees have been duped to believe and give out information unwittingly. At times the hospitals have fired the nurses or other staff involved. But humans are humans - they do become star struck and may make mistakes.

To me the radio commentators are the ones who should be the ones responsible for all of this. They know better, they only wanted ratings, they totally disregarded any ethical behavior. The Royals, the hospital and most of all the front line staff are the persons who are affected the most by this stunt.

[Coco]

Brits are famous for their stiff upper lip, so I would attribute Charles' reaction to some sort of defense mechanism.

William is rumored to loath the press, and that's an attitude that could make his whole life extremely difficult. His wife has now been violated 2x by the media, so he's probably feeling awful. His dad might be trying to downplay the significance in an attempt to create an environment where the family just ignores or brushes off the these types of things. After all, what else can they do? The punishment for this sort of thing never, EVER fits the crime.

Sometimes when something traumatic happens, treating it like the huge solemn trauma it is can make it a bit worse. There's got to be a balance between recognizing the severity of an incident and picking yourself up to move on. I don't think Charles deserves any criticism here. He certainly made his comments before the news of this poor woman's death had spread.

(wow, who knew I cared about the old guy so much?)

In the meantime, the news of this woman's death is just breathtakingly horrible. There's no way a caring, feeling person can adjust to this kind of notoriety so quickly, and in such harsh light. So sad...

[centerstage01]

Are you saying that if a nurse in the US believes to be on the phone with the President of the United States and he is asking about whether his daughter-in-law is better, she is simply going to say "Sorry Mr. President, confidentiality rules..." and hang up? Would the hospital fire a nurse for giving the President an update on his daughter-in-law?

Honestly? Yes. If the hospital has instructed their staff that they are not to give out any info at all unless the person on the other end of the line had a password or some other form of security question they can answer, then they are not to tell anyone anything. If it really was the President and the nurse in question was called on the carpet for not telling him anything, he or she can answer with confidence that security protocol was not followed and the rules are the rules. No sane administrator is going to fire someone for following their own instructions.

And yes, I was one of the people saying the nurse(s) in question should have been fired for letting such calls slip through, but it's my own fault for not fully comprehending the level of media obsession aimed at these women. I take that back and apologize. With any other normal patient, it probably would have been a stiff reprimand from the hospital and everyone going on with their day. But this media insanity took it to level one billion and what should have been a slap on the hand turned into a horrible, horrible tragedy.

The DJs in question are (I hope) feeling remorse for their stunt and I also hope they do something to help the children who are now without their mother. Their half-hearted apology earlier didn't cut it for me at all. People don't need to be calling the DJs with death threats, they need to be talking to each other about how crap like this can go too far and how to avoid it in the future. But that may be optimistic to the point of ludicrous.

[liv]

I am absolutely disgusted and shocked by this. This poor woman was probably hounded by all those souls out there calling for her head and just couldn't take it.

I think there is more than enough blame to go around, including the DJ's who started it, the media who kept up on it and many members of the public who worked on her with cyber bullying or phone calls etc. When Prince Charles is making a joke of it the next day, people should have realized that the Royals weren't going to make a huge issue of it, but some people in this day and age don't realize that what they do by themselves is multiplied by hundreds and thousands out there in our connected world and soon one person saying something bad becomes an avalanche of hate.

Kate and William are probably feeling terrible about this. What a horrendous shadow to cast over one of the most amazing times of their lives. No, it wasn't their fault, but since it is connected to them I'm sure they feel it acutely.

[milanessa]

The system in the hospitals around here is to give the person admitting the patient (or the patient if they're not accompanied by anyone) a pin number. If you call from out of town or wherever the staff on duty can give you information only if you have that number. I thought that was SOP in the US but maybe not.

[Kasey]

The system in the hospitals around here is to give the person admitting the patient (or the patient if they're not accompanied by anyone) a pin number. If you call from out of town or wherever the staff on duty can give you information only if you have that number. I thought that was SOP in the US but maybe not.

That's how we do it also; give the main family contact a patient access number to share with family and anyone else who may legitimately call about the patient. No access number, no information. Period.

[Skittl1321]

Are you saying that if a nurse in the US believes to be on the phone with the President of the United States and he is asking about whether his daughter-in-law is better, she is simply going to say "Sorry Mr. President, confidentiality rules..." and hang up? Would the hospital fire a nurse for giving the President an update on his daughter-in-law?

Technically, due to HIPPA laws- yes, I think a hospital could fire the nurse in that situation. Even the president would need to be specifically authorized to get updates on his daughter-in-law. However, I also think a President, who is very aware of the law wouldn't ever put a nurse in that situation. But if you were the Queen, and you called and were told "I'm so sorry, I am really not allowed to release that information" rather than feeling rebuked, wouldn't you feel like it was good that your granddaughter-in-law, who is so hounded by the press, had her privacy protected?


I feel awful for this woman, because, if England has the same confidentiality laws, she clearly didn't feel comfortable saying no. And then she clearly felt very very badly about what she had done, and couldn't handle the bullying she has since received from the internet. But I do think she made an honest mistake, and from what I hear from English friends someone wouldn't be fired for this- just rebuked and retrained. I think the DJs deserve the blame for this situation, even for her suicide, if it is proven to be one. Because even if she was mentally in trouble before, there is a reason you don't mess with the minds of people you don't know. The prank was never meant to be on the royals, they didn't ask to speak to Kate- it was meant to be on the hospital workers. And it was extremely mean-spirited. Even if they only meant to hang up after being told no when their supposedly horrible accents were heard, once it got further than that, the DJs should have put the phone down.

And by extension, I feel awful for William and Kate. They have to feel guilty for their association, even though they are truly blameless here.

[PDilemma]

The system in the hospitals around here is to give the person admitting the patient (or the patient if they're not accompanied by anyone) a pin number. If you call from out of town or wherever the staff on duty can give you information only if you have that number. I thought that was SOP in the US but maybe not.

We have been given a number at check in with my dad's hospitalizations lately. If he has a procedure, it doubles as a tracking number on a system within the hospital. So, for example, if we are eating in the cafeteria, there is a board much like an airline flight board where we can check his number and the color it is highlighted in tells us if he is still in surgery, in recovery or back in his room.

We never used it to call for info, but could have.

[bek]

I think the DJ deserves the blame for this. I also think the hospital deserves the blame for it too if they didn't develop a procedure for this type of event... (I.e the future Queen of England)...Poor children in this and poor William and Kate.

Those radio show people were so selfish. It would have been one thing to call a flower shop and pretend to be the queen... (and pay for the flowers too)....Nobody would I suspect lose their job over that. As long as the flowers and stuff were paid for. But to call someone who could actually lose their job..

This woman didn't sign up for this kind of media scrutiny. She was a private person.. To be honest I have been concerned about the whole situation with Kate and this baby to begin with. She's barely along and already hospitalized and you have the media going crazy.. Way to much stress. Hopefully now the media will back off and late this girl alone... Its a serious thing (even if it was just morning sickness) not a funny thing when a pregnant woman is in the hospital.

And as for why this person killed themselves. Some cultures (I don't know much about Indian cultures) are more shame based than others. The whole thing is so sad. I hope something can be done for those poor children. And that the Duchess is okay too.

[Aussie Willy]

I hate commercial radio in Australia for reasons such as this. And the problem is the authorities let them get away with it, along with an number of other things. I worked at a place where one morning the boss and her kids arrived and joked about a Gotcha call they had just heard on the radio. Can't remember what it was but I know I didn't join in their fun and might have expressed my disgust about it.

[algonquin]

This woman didn't sign up for this kind of media scrutiny. She was a private person.. To be honest I have been concerned about the whole situation with Kate and this baby to begin with. She's barely along and already hospitalized and you have the media going crazy.. Way to much stress. Hopefully now the media will back off and late this girl alone... Its a serious thing (even if it was just morning sickness) not a funny thing when a pregnant woman is in the hospital.

I agreed with everything that you wrote except what I put in bold. My best friend had hyperemesis gravidarum with each of her three pregnancies. We exchanged a few emails about Kate this week, this is what my friend wrote,

They shouldn’t call it morning sickness on the news, that’s part of the problem, even with the acute added to. But the condition’s fairly rare as far as these things go, so there’s very little understanding of it I guess. Maybe the twitterverse would be more understanding if they realized that she could actually lose the baby at this point if she becomes too dehydrated or her electrolytes become unbalanced. Without treatment, she could die herself.

Too late for me, but maybe a high profile case will get some researchers looking into it more.

[LilJen]

Are you saying that if a nurse in the US believes to be on the phone with the President of the United States and he is asking about whether his daughter-in-law is better, she is simply going to say "Sorry Mr. President, confidentiality rules..." and hang up? Would the hospital fire a nurse for giving the President an update on his daughter-in-law?

Yes, that is the law in the US, unless the daughter-in-law has given written permission that Mr. President may have access to that information.

[bek]

I agreed with everything that you wrote except what I put in bold. My best friend had hyperemesis gravidarum with each of her three pregnancies. We exchanged a few emails about Kate this week, this is what my friend wrote,

I was saying just morning sickness because I didn't want to well overstate things but the situation being more serious than the media was letting on is what I worried about... I even felt like I needed to pray for her for whatever reason.. And (I'm not that into royal family stuff didn't even watch that wedding) it was just a thought that went through my head, and then this happens. But my thoughts were this could be a complicated pregnancy and the media is already surrounding this girl. Hopefully know they will back off....

[Twizzler]

Are you saying that if a nurse in the US believes to be on the phone with the President of the United States and he is asking about whether his daughter-in-law is better, she is simply going to say "Sorry Mr. President, confidentiality rules..." and hang up? Would the hospital fire a nurse for giving the President an update on his daughter-in-law?

I don't think in the real world things work like that.

Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. When patients are admitted, they provide a list of people that can be given updated medical status reports if they call. The people on the list are given passwords to use when they call to inquire. No password, no information. Period.

Is this followed 100% of the time? Probably not, but the people who chose to give out personal information are putting their jobs at risk.

[aftershocks]

...

And by extension, I feel awful for William and Kate. They have to feel guilty for their association, even though they are truly blameless here.

I understand what you mean, but I don't think William and Kate should nor probably do feel at all "guilty" of anything. They were victimized too in a careless and thoughtless way. Certainly, they must be feeling very sad as expressed in their press statement, which is not what they should have to be feeling during what should be a happy and joyful time for them. This just highlights the need for the media and other frenzied followers, as posters have mentioned, to "back-off" and respect William's and Kate's humanity and desire to live with as much privacy and normalcy as they possibly can under the circumstances of their very public lives.

Very sad situation. Understandably and rightly so, no personal details about the nurse/ receptionist are being given out and her family has asked for privacy, with all inquiries being forwarded to the police. It doesn't really matter what other situations might have existed in this woman's life, or whether it was simply the overwhelming sense of guilt, embarrassment, fear of repercussions, and/ or being made the butt of jokes for the rest of her life that drove her to apparently commit suicide. The fact remains a person has died senselessly and that is a horrible shame.

It makes me realize how awful a person must feel to make such a decision, without their being able to comprehend in that moment that taking their own life to make the pain go away will not actually solve anything and there will be no way to take it back and redeem or rise above their despair. The DJs should really think very hard about what they can do for the rest of their lives to make a positive difference in raising awareness about suicide, and/ or working with depressed people, and with teenagers to advocate against suicide. They should of course also think about doing something to help the children and family of the deceased woman.

[bek]

It makes me realize how awful a person must feel to make such a decision, without their being able to comprehend in that moment that taking their own life to make the pain go away will not actually solve anything and there will be no way to take it back and redeem or rise above their despair. The DJs should really think very hard about what they can do for the rest of their lives to make a positive difference in raising awareness about suicide, and/ or working with depressed people, and with teenagers to advocate against suicide. They should of course also think about doing something to help the children and family of the deceased woman.

The thing is though as I mentioned earlier in some cultures when you lose bringing dishonor to yourself/family. Death can be seen as the only means of saving face. Its possible that this wasn't the case here, but given where this nurse is from-that's what could have happened. Not every society/religion views suicide the same way.

So I find the whole she's mentally ill etc and those arguing its not the DJ's. I wonder how many of them realize this fact.

In terms of Kate/William. What the heck do they have to feel bad about this. I feel terrible that this happening to them.

[Angelskates]

Is there any proof the nurse killed herself because of the prank? She wasn't involved in the prank in any way, so there's nothing to say she killed herself because of it. I think the prank was terrible, but I don't necessarily automatically believe it's the reason for the nurse's death.

[Anita18]

Actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. When patients are admitted, they provide a list of people that can be given updated medical status reports if they call. The people on the list are given passwords to use when they call to inquire. No password, no information. Period.

Is this followed 100% of the time? Probably not, but the people who chose to give out personal information are putting their jobs at risk.

I work on the campus of a hospital, not with patients. In my job orientation, by the way they worded it, if I even breathed one word about a patient here to anyone who did not have clearance to know it, I could be fired. I don't even work with patients, and this is how I operate.

I figured that maybe they were on the safe side, because we're located in Los Angeles. I remember that 13 workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were fired because they looked up information about Britney Spears (back when she had her mental breakdown) on the hospital's computers. They weren't even accused to giving information to tabloids - just that they looked at her records without authorization. Obviously this area takes privacy laws very seriously.

A number of people made serious mistakes over this transgression. But a woman didn't need to die. And yes, the DJs are the ones to really blame for going through on a mean and unfunny prank.

[bek]

I work on the campus of a hospital, not with patients. In my job orientation, by the way they worded it, if I even breathed one word about a patient here to anyone who did not have clearance to know it, I could be fired. I don't even work with patients, and this is how I operate.

I figured that maybe they were on the safe side, because we're located in Los Angeles. I remember that 13 workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were fired because they looked up information about Britney Spears (back when she had her mental breakdown) on the hospital's computers. They weren't even accused to giving information to tabloids - just that they looked at her records without authorization. Obviously this area takes privacy laws very seriously.

A number of people made serious mistakes over this transgression. But a woman didn't need to die. And yes, the DJs are the ones to really blame for going through on a mean and unfunny prank.

In most companies that deal with sensative information its the same thing. Who knows what the protocol though is in the UK. I have though a very hard time understanding how there wasn't any protocol for the Dutchess?

In the end even if there was a loss of face thing going on there still more than likely was other issues this could have been the final straw.

Hopefully though this is the final straw with the media. To be frank, why should that radio even be allowed to use either of those women's voices without their permission... In terms of pranks like that I think they should have to get disclosures....

The thing is ridiculous soon nobody is going to want to go in the public service if their lives are going to be subjected to that.

[victoriajh]

I hate these type of prank calls by stations. I do. Not think they are funny or entertaining at all...I turn the station whenever they do one and don't go back!!! Does anyone actually think its funny?