PRANKS, SUICIDE AND SUBWAY DEATHS

The death of a London duty nurse charged with caring for Prince William’s wife during her difficult pregnancy, as well as the death of a Korean immigrant on the tracks of a New York Subway prove we live in a strange society.

Last week, an Australian radio station phoned a London hospital pretending to be Queen Elizabeth in what they considered their jovial prank of the day. The prankster DJ with a bad English accent was somehow able to fool the duty nurse into providing personal details over the air about the condition of Prince William’s wife, Catherine, who was hospitalized with acute sickness related to her pregnancy.  The radio station got a huge laugh at the expense of Jacintha Saldanha, who was embarrassed and globally humiliated for her gaffe in actually believing the palace was calling for detailed information on the Duchess.

On Friday, Saldanha committed suicide.

Also last week, a Korean man was pushed onto the tracks of a New York City subway, after arguing with a combative homeless man.  Dazed from the push and an earlier argument with his wife, Ki-Suck Han sat confused on the track, not realizing that a subway train was approaching the station.  Instead of racing to help the man out of harms way, bystanders immediately reached for their cell phone cameras, making certain they would capture the gory moment for later posting to Facebook or Twitter.  One such rider was R. Umar Abassi, a professional photographer, whose camera captured the last moments of Han’s life before the subway train struck and killed him on the track.

The photographer’s photos were published in the NY Post and he has since been widely criticized for opting to secure a photo over saving a human life. He has since defended his actions by saying heavy equipment prevented him from getting to the man in time, so his way of offering help was to snap photos with his camera, hoping the subway operator would see the multiple camera flashes and stop the train.  Hogwash!

Han sits dazed on the track, with subway in the distance

One of Abassi’s first published photos showed Han sitting dazed on the track, with lights of the approaching train very far in the distance.  The last published photo showed Han trying to climb back onto the platform with the train less than 100 feet away from striking him.  Was there really not enough time for Abassi or anyone to help Han off the tracks and avoid certain death?

Han moments before his death

While a doctor unsuccessfully administered CPR to Han on the tracks and an EMT crew carted him away on an ambulance gurney, Abassi made sure to grab a couple of extra photos for good measure.

Is this the world we live in now??