I don’t see it as similar to the prank you’re thinking up at all, because that would be frankly psychotic.
The only way they could have got someone in trouble is if someone gave info out that they shouldn’t have. It’s more a failure of security at the hospital than anything else, and they exposed a security breach. The hospital claim the nurse hadn’t even been disciplined.
HIPAA, however, is an American law and would not apply in the UK.
UK Dopers, what are the UK rules/regs/laws regarding medical records and privacy?
I wouldn’t blame the nurse who finally took the call for violating privacy. If I’d been told by another staff member that it was the queen being put through, I would probably assume the caller had already passed whatever security was in place.
Good point. We don’t even know what security procedures that hospital had in place. It’s entirely possible that they were actually followed (in which case they’re woefully inadequate) or that the hospital didn’t properly train the staff about them (she was just a night nurse, not a receptionist). If that’s the case then neither nurse deserved any kind of reprimand.
Speaking from a US bias, a nurse will have a LOT more training about how to handle medical information than a receptionist. A receptionist won’t answer medical questions even if the person asking is totally legitimate – the training they receive is to say, “I don’t have the medical training to discuss these issues.” A receptionist would (or should) pass along any such inquiries to a nurse or other medical staff, unless one of those folks has prepared some information for the receptionist to hand out.
Oooooh, I see. Imitating someone’s mother- and The Queen to boot- and then broadcasting the private information divulged isn’t psychotic.
Well, this is a big Internet. We’re allowed to disagree.
I’m with SciFiSam.
Your example is psychotic, what they did here was merely juvenile and irresponsible.
Aside from the lack of security/privacy protocols exhibited by the hospital, and that no reasonable person could have possibly foreseen this tragic outcome, for those arguing that public humiliation directly caused the death of Jacintha Saldanha, two things to consider:
That suicide is a much more complex issue than one singular event;
and
That if you truly believe public degradation is what drove this nurse killed herself, then
directing so much self-justified venom-filled sameness towards Michael Christian and Mel
Greig hardly strengthens your point.
Without question, it is incredibly sad for her family and friends, but much more unfortunate than the seconds-long prank call is that it seems her depression remained so widely undetected.
I linked to this in the other thread, but I think it’s worth linking here too:
There is more to tragedy than meets the eye.
Thanks for the thoughtful link, Eliahna - written from the perspective of a person with some first-hand experience I’m sure no-one here would like to have.
At the time of posting I was unaware of the death of the nurse. What was intended to be a bit of lighthearted Brit/Aussie banter now looks crass, to say the least.
I apologise.
6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast: No offence intended, none taken.
Too late now, mascaroni. It was an ill-conceived, poorly executed prank, and an innocent (me) paid a high price for it.
Hold back, folks. I AM joking.
Thanks for the apology, mascaroni; both unexpected and graciously accepted. And at the time of your post, nobody knew anyone had died, not even the dead person.
Only hacks and unfunny people bother with pranks.
This story is just terrible.
IANAL but I understand patients rights in the UK are defined by the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act. The main point is that it is the patent’s decision as to who can be told about their condition. So saying “I’m the patient’s Mum, I have a right to know” shouldn’t give you access to any information. But I don’t know anything about the finer points of the law. For instance, I don’t know what the law says about Kate instructing the hospital to tell the Queen anything she asks for.
BBC is saying the British police want to interview the Aussie DJs and that the latter have said they’ll cooperate fully in any investigation. Leaving aside the desire for any revenge, which laws would be in question of having been broken? I believe I heard that the prank was not broadcast live but rather prerecorded and okayed ahead of time by the station lawyers. And how would the international nature of it come into play?
In some places it’s illegal to record a conversation without knowledge of both parties – I dunno if that would be applicable. And maybe there’s some kind of generic “misuse of public facility” charge that could be slapped on for abusing the phone system.
But the station lawyers okayed it. If they’re ruled wrong, wouldn’t they be the ones in trouble? I don’t know the law in either country, but assume recording without the call receiver knowing it is illegal in Britain but legal in Australia – how would something like that be handled?
The lawyers wouldn’t be in trouble. Lawyers just give advice. Whoever has the authority to decide at the company would be responsible.
It would be very difficult to punish Australian deejays under British law.
So now BBC has interviewed an executive of the radio station’s parent company – I think it may be the same CEO who held that conference the other day – and he claimed they tried to contact all the nurses involved five times before broadcasting the prank in order to talk to them about receiving their permission. He didn’t say if they managed to get ahold of any of them, but I presume they didn’t or else he would have said. But I don’t know how this would matter. Could they use this as some sort of esoteric legal defense, that they had tried their best to obtain permission?
(My bolding). Well put. Some of the people I’ve seen get the most angry about this would, I think, be quite happy if the DJs did commit suicide - they’re certainly acting as if they think death is a suitable punishment for them.