Posted on 12/09/2012 6:55:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
LONDON — It’s the million-dollar question, and not only here in the U.K. Jacintha Saldana — one of the nurses taken in by the prank phone call to the hospital where Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, was being treated for acute morning sickness — killed herself early Friday. And we are all left scratching our heads. Why did she do it?
Of course, the first thing we all wonder is about her mental stability. We’d all desperately like to believe that this hard-working mother of two, who commuted 140 miles to her day job, often working double shifts so that she could spend more time with her family — must have some deep, dark secret to hide. Because then the rest of us could at least explain away an event that is, as the chairman of King Edward VII Hospital put it, “tragic beyond words.”
But from what we know, there is no sign that Saldana was suicidal, unstable or psychologically frail before she took her own life this week. Shy and nervous? Yes. But so depressed she was suicidal? Doesn’t sound right, at least according to those who knew Saldana, who was described at work as “an excellent nurse, well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues.”
Maybe she faced some kind of severe sanction from the hospital where she worked? Maybe the hospital blamed her for falling for a hoax in which two Australian DJs masquerading as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles managed to fool the diligent but non-native English speaker, who subsequently passed the phone call on to the Duchess’s private nurse, who then revealed details about the duchess’s condition?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don't think so.
So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? --Proverbs 26:19
For my part,I absolutely DESPISE “practical jokers” because their intent is to cause at least emotional harm to others by making the victim of the “joke” appear stupid;this is not a good act. Sometimes the practical joke results in much worse.I maintain that Christians and others of good moral character should not and do not engage in such disguised attacks on innocent people.
My view is those who derive amusement from any misfortune of innocent people or anuimals are sick.
In the US, she could get fired for violating HIPAA laws, be blacklisted, face an investigation and have her license suspended or taken away, be unemployable, lose her legal immigration status...
Maybe none of that was relevant in her circumstances - maybe she was only devastated to have messed up after being trusted with the care of the princess carrying the heir to the throne.
I was cured of the vice at an early age, when I suggested to my mother that a friend and I were contemplating spiking someone’s chocolate with Ex-lax. Her response was immediate and overwhelming, and since she was normally an incredibly mild-mannered woman I was, needless to say, taken aback. I know there will always be individual louts amongst us, but the fact that an organization should use the practical joke as a money-making tool should give us due cause, as a society, for concern.
Her native language wasnt English, then doesnt mean she didnt have a better.command of proper vocabulary and grammar than most of the yubs who would otherwise populate those positions. It did however make her gullible to the prank.
Her native language wasnt English, then doesnt mean she didnt have a better.command of proper vocabulary and grammar than most of the yubs who would otherwise populate those positions. It did however make her gullible to the prank.
I just don’t think people should kill themselves over a minor incident like this.
There have been some freepers who would probably have wished that Allen Funt of “Candid Camera” should have been jailed.
As always, mom, you are right on the money.
I wonder about that, the hospital was so quick to say that they had "supported her". It seemed a little off.
Ha! I just wrote the same thing!
Here’s a truly cruel practical joke that could have caused a heart attack. The late, great comedian and comedy writer, Pat McCormick, had a replica made up of his tiny newborn. Sitting on a balcony with his wife, he said he couldn’t stand the baby anymore. He grabbed the replica and heaved it overboard.
Needless to say, that precipated divorce proceedings.
There are practical jokes and then there are practical jokes—
I am now going to read Christopher Hitchens’ essay called “Why Aren’t Women Funny?”
Women are funny but in a different way. Black humor and pranks are more for guys but some can appeal to the ladies. Matter of fact women like nasty (as in black humor) catty putdowns and observations of other women...Not all the time. Just sometimes
Movies— What do you think of the “Hunger Games” with a female heroine? I won’t see it but it had an enormous female audience.
I think this is because of the nurses (and all Brits) feelings about royalty. Brits look at the royals differently than we do. Her embarrassment must have been more than she could stand. Terrible that she could not deal with it any other way.
British are famous for their sense of humour. But with all the immigration they have now, humour should be outlawed, apparently.
I come from a family of male comedy writers in Hollywood. They have always been extremely dismissive of women in comedy. Someone very close to me doesn’t even think Lucille Ball is funny! While I wouldn’t go that far, as someone raised to love comedy, it always amazes me how women have no appreciation of the great comedians of the 20th century. It just compounds my feelings that women need to be raised to be funny and see humor in situations. But they are not. They are raised to be decorous and in good taste. Good taste = unfunny.
In digging a little closer to this story, I have found reports that Prince William went absolutely nuts over this silly prank. He was demanding an investigation of the hospital. So perhaps in the end, it was the Royal Family - once again - behaving badly.
OMG! That was horrible, glad she divorced him.
I have not followed this story but it sounds like you are correct.
It’s a horrible prank!
As actors always say: “Dying is hard, comedy is harder.”
Let him “care less” if he wants, he’s been corrected before!
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