Receptionist who took the hoax phone call for Kate found dead!!

[monkee12]

I haven't read this whole thread so sorry if it's a very sympathetic one and I'm going to upset anyone

I just don't get this.

* she wasn't the one who actually gave the information
* she was not in any trouble at work and under no disciplinary
* she had worked there for many many years so her character was well known and under no threat.
* even if she was the one that gave the information and she was fired, a sane woman with children does not suddenly decide to take her own life and leave her children behind. A sane woman does whatever it takes to stay with your children and watch them grow up. Something just doesn't sit right with me over this. I mean, would YOU have done the same in those circumstances?!

As for the djs:

* they are being demonised
* they have bosses whose job it is to get permissions before anything like this goes on air (it wasn't live) and the buck stops with them, not the djs.

That isn't true, she could have felt her job was o the line making her depressed etc. Nobody can say what they would do in the circumstances as everyone deals with depression differently (not that Im saying she was depressed, it could have been anything) the DJ's made a prank knowing it could ruin someones job if they had got through, that was wrong, boasting about it all over twitter was worse. The radio station may be more to blame but the dj's didn't have to broadcast it worldwide.

 

[New2Bumps]

The hospital was def not supportive at all, someone in my family has a client who is a consultant at that hospital and when he asked him about the whole scandal (before the suicide) his response was 'heads will roll'. I think it is so awful that the hospital are denying that she was in trouble because it could give some small piece of closure to her poor grieving family.

I also don't think it is very sensitive to use the word 'sane' or 'insane' when talking about suicide. Plus none of us no what humiliation feels like on such a huge scale, people respond to stressful situations differently and this woman was living in London all on her own with no one to talk to or rationalise with her.

Yes if that's the case they should own up - it would at least make more sense.
I know her family weren't in London but she had worked at the hospital for many years so surely had many friends and colleagues around her, but I take your point that the people she may well turn to weren't there immediately to comfort her.
As for sane/insane, maybe that's my mis(?)understanding of suicide. Having had no brush with it I assumed that for the majority of ppl who do commit or contemplate suicide there is something (depression, anxiety) underlying that causes a kind of temporary insanity - warped judgement. I wasn't implying that she had an acutal mental illness nor that people with mental issues are more likely to contemplate suicide - a bit of a minefield really so thanks for giving me the opportunity to clear that up a bit!

Monkee12 - my point was that it wasn't the DJs who 'broadcast it worldwide'. It's my understanding that it wasn't a live broadcast and the decision to broadcast was made ultimately by bosses (who are paid a lot more than the DJs! to accept such responsibilities!) It is policy to get permissions to broadcast from people involved before broadcasting - the boses didn't do this.

 

[monkee12]

The hospital was def not supportive at all, someone in my family has a client who is a consultant at that hospital and when he asked him about the whole scandal (before the suicide) his response was 'heads will roll'. I think it is so awful that the hospital are denying that she was in trouble because it could give some small piece of closure to her poor grieving family.

I also don't think it is very sensitive to use the word 'sane' or 'insane' when talking about suicide. Plus none of us no what humiliation feels like on such a huge scale, people respond to stressful situations differently and this woman was living in London all on her own with no one to talk to or rationalise with her.

Yes if that's the case they should own up - it would at least make more sense.
I know her family weren't in London but she had worked at the hospital for many years so surely had many friends and colleagues around her, but I take your point that the people she may well turn to weren't there immediately to comfort her.
As for sane/insane, maybe that's my mis(?)understanding of suicide. Having had no brush with it I assumed that for the majority of ppl who do commit or contemplate suicide there is something (depression, anxiety) underlying that causes a kind of temporary insanity - warped judgement. I wasn't implying that she had an acutal mental illness nor that people with mental issues are more likely to contemplate suicide - a bit of a minefield really so thanks for giving me the opportunity to clear that up a bit!

Monkee12 - my point was that it wasn't the DJs who 'broadcast it worldwide'. It's my understanding that it wasn't a live broadcast and the decision to broadcast was made ultimately by bosses (who are paid a lot more than the DJs! to accept such responsibilities!) It is policy to get permissions to broadcast from people involved before broadcasting - the boses didn't do this.

I understand what your saying but the DJ's we're laughing about the prank on twitter and retweeting it, I don't agree with the backlash that they had, however they do have to take some responsibility aswell as the radio station and hospital. Lot's of people we're in the wrong however the DJ's involved are not totally innocent.

 

[babyjan]

Not sure if this is true but apparently she mentioned the prank call in a note she left behind

 

[monkee12]

Not sure if this is true but apparently she mentioned the prank call in a note she left behind

I heard that aswell

 

[Tasha]

She said in one of her suicide notes that the hospital were not supportive. To me it is obvious that if the hospital did put pressure on her, they arent going to say they did (but then I spent four years fighting a hospital for an apology after they cause the death of my daughter). They probably werent even aware of suicide notes when they claimed they were supportive.

Depression etc doesnt make you insane.

 

[New2Bumps]

The hospital was def not supportive at all, someone in my family has a client who is a consultant at that hospital and when he asked him about the whole scandal (before the suicide) his response was 'heads will roll'. I think it is so awful that the hospital are denying that she was in trouble because it could give some small piece of closure to her poor grieving family.

I also don't think it is very sensitive to use the word 'sane' or 'insane' when talking about suicide. Plus none of us no what humiliation feels like on such a huge scale, people respond to stressful situations differently and this woman was living in London all on her own with no one to talk to or rationalise with her.

Yes if that's the case they should own up - it would at least make more sense.
I know her family weren't in London but she had worked at the hospital for many years so surely had many friends and colleagues around her, but I take your point that the people she may well turn to weren't there immediately to comfort her.
As for sane/insane, maybe that's my mis(?)understanding of suicide. Having had no brush with it I assumed that for the majority of ppl who do commit or contemplate suicide there is something (depression, anxiety) underlying that causes a kind of temporary insanity - warped judgement. I wasn't implying that she had an acutal mental illness nor that people with mental issues are more likely to contemplate suicide - a bit of a minefield really so thanks for giving me the opportunity to clear that up a bit!

Monkee12 - my point was that it wasn't the DJs who 'broadcast it worldwide'. It's my understanding that it wasn't a live broadcast and the decision to broadcast was made ultimately by bosses (who are paid a lot more than the DJs! to accept such responsibilities!) It is policy to get permissions to broadcast from people involved before broadcasting - the boses didn't do this.

I understand what your saying but the DJ's we're laughing about the prank on twitter and retweeting it, I don't agree with the backlash that they had, however they do have to take some responsibility aswell as the radio station and hospital. Lot's of people we're in the wrong however the DJ's involved are not totally innocent.

Yes I agree with that statement. The backlash is harsh but that they do have to take some responsibility. I think it's unfair that the big boss men have got away scot free with their anonymity intact however.
I wasn't aware that they had laughed about it on Twitter as I don't use Twitter. That does skew the issue slightly, although I guess no-one could have imagined such an outcome as a suicide from a prank call. Nonetheless, as DJs they are in some ways in a position of responsibility (not really the right word but...) and should really watch what they say and do with social networks like Twitter - very irresponsible. In this country I get the impression that for Radio 1 and the like it's the publicity team that tweet etc anyway, not the DJs, probrably to avoid these kind of situations.

 

[New2Bumps]

She said in one of her suicide notes that the hospital were not supportive. To me it is obvious that if the hospital did put pressure on her, they arent going to say they did (but then I spent four years fighting a hospital for an apology after they cause the death of my daughter). They probably werent even aware of suicide notes when they claimed they were supportive.

Depression etc doesnt make you insane.

Did a newspaper actually release details of the suicide note then? That's a massive invasion of privacy if so isn't it? I agree in hindsight that I guess the hospital would not admit to putting pressure on her and that the staff would tow the line, I guess I was being a bit naive there.
I wasn't incinuating depression makes someone insane. I meant that things like depression, anxiety etc can temporarily skew your judgement or thinking.
I think the previous poster was right when she suggested to me that using the word sane/insane was a bit of a tightrope. I think it's hard to type about depression without it sounding judgemental. I'd just like to emphasise that my intentions aren't judgemental at all.
Maybe the tone initially came over as a bit too accusatory (can't spell that for toffee) of the woman and I apologise to anyone reading this thread for that. I was trying to say there must have been something, or some other issue or problem that contributed to her deciding to take her own life; that it couldn't be as clear cut as just being under pressure at work and a bit humiliated and isolated. Maybe that tone stemmed from my kind of anger/confusion - 'what could ever be so bad that she would leave her children?' I can see how the prank situation would tip someone over the edge but not cause a suicide from being a-ok?

It seems like such a complex situation - can it really be explained away by just this prank call?

I appreciate the frank and calm discussion ladies, I always have my heart in my mouth when discussing on threads like this that it doesn't get taken too much the wrong way and cause bad feeling.