Something that has been bothering me for a while involves the fallout from the hoax in England in which an Australian radio station duped a nurse, pretending to be the Queen and Prince and wanting to know the status of their grand daughter Kate, The Duchess of Cambridge, and her condition. The nurse Ms. Jacintha Sadanha, was the person who received the phone call. She answered the phone very politely and responded like any normal individual would. Not knowing that the individuals (Australian DJ’s) were simply impersonating Royalty, she simply provided a status to answer their query. Privacy is an issue and that is understandable but even Prince Charles took it in stride and laughed when interviewed. Once the hospital was made aware of the hoax, the hospital administers came down hard as they were embarrassed. Unfortunately the nurse at the center of this controversy was found hanging in her room in an apparent suicide. This mother of two was buried in her hometown in India as media tried to claim she must have had mental issues.

The media frenzy looked toward the Australian radio station and DJ’s involved for answers and blame. They endured pure hatred and death threats for a joke, gone wrong. These types of pranks happen everyday by radio DJ’s and even Celebrities who have TV shows that mock or embarrass individuals. The point I want to make, with all the attention focused on the radio station, why weren’t investigators questioning the tactics of the hospital toward their employees for the cause of her death? What was the conversation toward this innocent woman who worked within the hospital? Who spoke to her and how was she made to feel because the Hospital Executives may have been embarrassed? Stalin once said, “The death of an individual becomes a tragedy, yet the death of thousands become a statistic”. This was a misfortunate turn of events as two children lost a mother not because of the Australians attempt at humour but maybe because some person in a position of authority may have simply been embarrassed amongst the Aristocrats thus unleashing a flurry of insults which could have been responsible to the end result.

Sincerely-Philip Magnoli, my friends call me Don Filippo-The FX Specialist- www.donfilippo