Perhaps what has surprised me most about this incident is that ANYONE thinks the conduct was even vaguely acceptable.
"Pranks" must be tempered by some societal norms which is why we would never prank a person with a disability if the prank was to mock that disability.
The same should have applied in this case. Kate Middleton was in hospital being treated for an ailment. If that wasn't enough, the "Princess Di" factor should have been considered, as should Leveson.
While noone knew that the nurse would suicide, it should have been foreseen that she would (at the least) be very upset, and may even have lost her job.
Both the incident and the reaction to it have been extremely poor.

@ Rhrosty.

Stick to your day job and don't pretent to being a betting man.

The Telepnone Call was THE trigger... anything else is a result.

Respect the dead.

I thought a 'prank' was supposed to be funny without degrading or humiliating the recipient. Who rings a hospital ... yes a hospital full of sick and/or dieing people, to get a laugh?? I thought calls like this were illegal in Australia. I know people ring during bushfire season to report phantom bush-fires etc, and during the school holidays ..... does that put the 'hoax' radio presenters in the same box?? Childish, irresponsible, makers-of-public-nuisances. What about gaining the permission of the 'pranked' to broadcast the phone call??

These supposed adult media presenters, have put a lady in the lime-light. The English love their monarchy, especially the Prince and his new wife. The English are protecting their future King and his wife ... his pregnant wife. We will never know why the nurse suicided, but it sure as heck wasn't because two two Aussie shock-jocks stayed within the bounds of common decency. Is it decent behavior to harass a sick, pregnant lady?? Or poke fun at others to get a laugh?? Sound more like bullying.

Unfortunately, fame means fortune, more money. Regardless of what 'was going on in the nurses' life, she suicided. So very sad. Yes it is sad for the two presenters too but it is a result of their actions, the nurse did nothing wrong, her family did nothing wrong.They are the sufferers.

Where are the Aristotelian values today??, an earlier poster asked. Aristotle had ethics. Where are today's ethics and morals?? Do we need to look closer at the self?? Where is our compassion and sense of moral duty??

Rediscovering sagaciousness might be a better title. It is easy for the wise old sage to deliver comments of extreme wisdom; some might say hindsight-driven erudition under the circumstances and given the emotiveness of the British media coverage. As many of the comments have indicated, the Aussie larrikin is not valued for his/her insight. That is surely something that comes with age. Let’s get things into perspective and ask the questions: What state of mind was this poor woman in to leave a husband and children behind? And has the Princess been harmed? It might be prudent to wait for an enquiry before blaming her death on a prank call.

I am reluctant to post this comment because if I say something provocative, like there is no God or that the U.S. is clearly creating an evil, imperial Empire, or that Palestine should be returned to the Palestinians, then someone, somewhere might end their life.

Where is the line to be drawn?

"It seems too, that an unintended consequence is excusable. As a society we no longer seem to understand that actions have consequences."
And that is the crux of the matter. It was a harmless prank with no malice intended. 'Taking the piss' is part of our way of life, and if the consequences here are clearly tragic, how used to that have we become?
We live in a state of constant war with 'collateral damage', or unintended deaths, excused as unnecessary but unavoidable. A 'sorry about that' is all the explanation anyone will ever get.
We have a fiscal system in which the corporations who sent the world into a Global Financial Crisis are bailed out with taxpayer money. And part of that bail-out will go to executive bonuses, just don't ask why.
Meanwhile wedding parties catch Hellfire missiles and the middle class fronts the bankruptcy court.
Start there if you want to start apportioning consequences, not with a couple of DJ's who have never known better because they have never been taught better.