THE fallout continued last night over the stupid prank that may have caused a nurse to commit suicide.

DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian are in hiding after worldwide condemnation of their hoax call to the hospital that was treating the Duchess of Cambridge for acute morning sickness. Ms Grieg is said to be in danger of self-harming.

What they did was the height of stupidity.

Hospital patients have a right to privacy, and nurses have more important things to do than try to weed out hoaxers.

In the wake of this tragedy, critics were quick to blame journalists – but Ms Grieg, a reality TV star, and Mr Christian, a former community radio host, are not journalists – they are “entertainers”.

Instead of excoriating two thoughtless broadcasters, perhaps we should be asking questions of a celebrityobsessed society where such foolishness is considered a harmless prank.

Hoax calls have been a staple ingredient of radio shows for years. The Queen was a high-profile victim of one as far back as 1995.

When they overstep the boundaries of acceptability, as happened when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left an offensive message on an answerphone belonging to the actor Andrew Sachs, innocent people can get hurt.

Hopefully, the needless death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha will mean that hospitals are out of bounds for this kind of foolishness from now on.

As for Kate and William, we hope this tragedy will make the media – both print and broadcast – adopt a more sensible approach in future.