The Duchess, the Nurse, and the DJs
I’m pretty sure that anyone who is willing to engage at least a little bit with the world at large, has formed opinions on what happened last week when the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness. And then, of course, the subsequent actions and reactions of two young DJs from Australia and an Indian nurse working at the central London hospital where Kate was being treated.
But if you happen to have lived in a cave for the past 10 days, you can get a grasp on the story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20662352
At first, before the nurse committed suicide, all the news reports were full of “stupid hospital, don’t they have procedures to prevent this?” and “stupid Aussie kids and their not-funny joke!”
Then, as soon as it emerged that the nurse had committed suicide, a full-scale witch hunt was launched on these two DJs. The press and public were baying for their blood, as if they had killed this poor nurse with their own bare hands.
But today, an interview came out with these two DJs… and I don’t see murderers. I see two young adults, about my age, utterly broken, devastated and tormented by what has happened. Their only intention was a silly prank, designed for laughs amongst a local audience of similar 20-somethings. Did they anticipate what would happen as a direct result? Absolutely not. Never in a million years. Yes, their phone prank was silly, not really very funny and in rather poor taste, but does that make them dirty, scummy murderers? Absolutely not. I feel intensely sorry for them.
I looked at their faces today. Both of them looked drawn, tired and haunted and I wanted to give them both a hug. They could have been me, my friends, people I hang out with all the time. Are any of us capable of pulling a silly prank for laughs? Absolutely. Have we wanted to drive people to suicide with our words or actions? Never. After all, we’re not talking about uneducated louts on the street here. We’re talking about educated, articulate, intelligent people who would never wish to cause another person harm. Did they want to have a laugh at another person’s expense, possibly (although they say the joke was meant to be on them… I’m not convinced by that), but did the intend anyone to kill themselves with guilt? Never.
However, following today’s interview, there is a slight turn in the tide towards these two DJs. And people are seeing the truth of the fact, that these are just some Aussie kids who are experiencing unintended, unimagined, but massive consequences.
But the whole case leaves unanswered ONE key question. What really drove Jacintha Saldanha to commit suicide? Because I simply do not believe that it was “because she answered the phone to a prank caller and connected them through to another nurse”. She wasn’t even the one to speak to them about Kate’s condition. I SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WAS THE ONLY TRIGGER.
Jacintha probably felt embarrassed, yes. But one does not kill themselves simply because they were embarrassed.
What we really need to be thinking about here, if the establishment is to learn anything from this sad, sad story, is this;
What other factors may have driven Jacintha to believe that suicide was the only thing left to do?
Questions need to be asked about hidden mental health issues, work place stress, unexpected negative attention, work place support structures… All manner of other things need to be considered before the sole blame is left to fester at the door of two daft Australia DJs. Because people don’t commit suicide in isolation. Often there are years and years of unhappiness brewing before a person reaches the point of contemplating suicide seriously. And perhaps people close to Jacintha need to be asking themselves some seriously probing questions, before blaming two young people on the other side of the world.
I feel desperately sorry for Jacintha, who was obviously teetering at the very edge of the line between coping and not.
I also feel desperately sorry for Christian and Mel. This will haunt them for the rest of their lives, whether they were truly to blame or not. And I don’t believe they were. They pranked a desperately vulnerable person, and although they didn’t know that, nor should they have done it in the first place. The only person responsible for the outcome, as it stands today, is Jacintha. May she rest in peace.
x S
But if you happen to have lived in a cave for the past 10 days, you can get a grasp on the story here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20662352
At first, before the nurse committed suicide, all the news reports were full of “stupid hospital, don’t they have procedures to prevent this?” and “stupid Aussie kids and their not-funny joke!”
Then, as soon as it emerged that the nurse had committed suicide, a full-scale witch hunt was launched on these two DJs. The press and public were baying for their blood, as if they had killed this poor nurse with their own bare hands.
But today, an interview came out with these two DJs… and I don’t see murderers. I see two young adults, about my age, utterly broken, devastated and tormented by what has happened. Their only intention was a silly prank, designed for laughs amongst a local audience of similar 20-somethings. Did they anticipate what would happen as a direct result? Absolutely not. Never in a million years. Yes, their phone prank was silly, not really very funny and in rather poor taste, but does that make them dirty, scummy murderers? Absolutely not. I feel intensely sorry for them.
I looked at their faces today. Both of them looked drawn, tired and haunted and I wanted to give them both a hug. They could have been me, my friends, people I hang out with all the time. Are any of us capable of pulling a silly prank for laughs? Absolutely. Have we wanted to drive people to suicide with our words or actions? Never. After all, we’re not talking about uneducated louts on the street here. We’re talking about educated, articulate, intelligent people who would never wish to cause another person harm. Did they want to have a laugh at another person’s expense, possibly (although they say the joke was meant to be on them… I’m not convinced by that), but did the intend anyone to kill themselves with guilt? Never.
However, following today’s interview, there is a slight turn in the tide towards these two DJs. And people are seeing the truth of the fact, that these are just some Aussie kids who are experiencing unintended, unimagined, but massive consequences.
But the whole case leaves unanswered ONE key question. What really drove Jacintha Saldanha to commit suicide? Because I simply do not believe that it was “because she answered the phone to a prank caller and connected them through to another nurse”. She wasn’t even the one to speak to them about Kate’s condition. I SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WAS THE ONLY TRIGGER.
Jacintha probably felt embarrassed, yes. But one does not kill themselves simply because they were embarrassed.
What we really need to be thinking about here, if the establishment is to learn anything from this sad, sad story, is this;
What other factors may have driven Jacintha to believe that suicide was the only thing left to do?
Questions need to be asked about hidden mental health issues, work place stress, unexpected negative attention, work place support structures… All manner of other things need to be considered before the sole blame is left to fester at the door of two daft Australia DJs. Because people don’t commit suicide in isolation. Often there are years and years of unhappiness brewing before a person reaches the point of contemplating suicide seriously. And perhaps people close to Jacintha need to be asking themselves some seriously probing questions, before blaming two young people on the other side of the world.
I feel desperately sorry for Jacintha, who was obviously teetering at the very edge of the line between coping and not.
I also feel desperately sorry for Christian and Mel. This will haunt them for the rest of their lives, whether they were truly to blame or not. And I don’t believe they were. They pranked a desperately vulnerable person, and although they didn’t know that, nor should they have done it in the first place. The only person responsible for the outcome, as it stands today, is Jacintha. May she rest in peace.
x S