Nurses apologise for photo with slain Thai officer

[DocN]

How can anyone say for certain that she isn't gloating? Or didn't mean to offend?

How can anyone say she is, or did mean to offend.. whatever happened to a presumption of innocence.

...ahm...you did actually SEE the picture, didn't you?

If she is not gloating or offending, at least she dumb as a brick and absolutely tasteless!

[boomerangutang]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

WRONG Again! You obviously do not know the situation down south, I have been down there........... you are so wrong this time....

I don't agree. The V sign is instinctive when a camera is pointed at a young person. However, getting hot headed and blowing it out of proportion is your option, - if you so choose.

I feel sure that the posters who consider the nurses actions to be a silly mistake/that's what all young Thai women do/lighten up dudes/etc would still hold that opinion if it were their son/brother on the slab.

I have a different view of death than most posters here. I don't see death as morbid and macabre. It's part of the natural cycle. In New Orleans, a band hired to play at a funeral will end with upbeat music. Imagine the freedom of not being spooked by death - if you can.

[Bender]

More than 5 years ago, in Thailand they did have this gore magazine/newspaper where each weeks they did publish

picture of dead body from accident/murder/.. . They used to sell it in thai book store, and maybe even in 7-eleven.

Oh i guess in a couple of weeks, some apologist will open a new thread : "why do you badmouth, why you dont leave?"

Edited October 31, 2013 by Bender

[mca]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

WRONG Again! You obviously do not know the situation down south, I have been down there........... you are so wrong this time....

I don't agree. The V sign is instinctive when a camera is pointed at a young person. However, getting hot headed and blowing it out of proportion is your option, - if you so choose.

I feel sure that the posters who consider the nurses actions to be a silly mistake/that's what all young Thai women do/lighten up dudes/etc would still hold that opinion if it were their son/brother on the slab.

I have a different view of death than most posters here. I don't see death as morbid and macabre. It's part of the natural cycle. In New Orleans, a band hired to play at a funeral will end with upbeat music. Imagine the freedom of not being spooked by death - if you can.

So if your son were blown up while defusing a bomb rather than being distraught beyond comprehension you'd put it down to a part of life's big cycle and consider yourself lucky to be so astute as to not be spooked by death.

Of course I'm saying that's <deleted>. Imagine that - if you can.

[Thai at Heart]

How can anyone say for certain that she isn't gloating? Or didn't mean to offend?

How can anyone say she is, or did mean to offend.. whatever happened to a presumption of innocence.

Well, she did get the photo taken. If you aren't meaning to offend anyone, in the first place you don't take the picture. Then you don't give 2 v signs which is kawaii, or cute and fun apparently.

I fail to see the fun it cuteness in this picture.

[Thai at Heart]

How can anyone say for certain that she isn't gloating? Or didn't mean to offend?

How can anyone say she is, or did mean to offend.. whatever happened to a presumption of innocence.

...ahm...you did actually SEE the picture, didn't you?

If she is not gloating or offending, at least she dumb as a brick and absolutely tasteless!

It's hardly sombre and respectful is it?

[astanhope]

Oh, the number of times I have seen a picture of smiling Thais pointing at a dead farang and never heard an apology. I guess it all depends on whose ox is getting gored.

Really?

How many times, exactly? Is it a number between zero and one?

I've been here a long time and have never seen such a photo. I'm not saying that such a thing couldn't exist, but if it does exist, how many have you actually seen?

It's best not to use hyperbole - or outright fiction - when maligning an entire people.

[gbswales]

interesting that the focus i on the nurses in the picture rather than the one taking the picture. The gesture is meaningless since many young girls make the gesture whenever a picture is taken the blame, like camera, is being pointed in the wrong direction. On a more serious note it is not uncommon, for people faced with scenes of death and destruction, to react in what seems to those on the outside to be disrespectful and poor behavour. How many soldiers have had their pictures taken in similar situations? The public at large would often be horrified at conversations that go on in operating theatres or other areas where they (the public) expect the participants to be paragons of virtue and to maintain "respect". These people live under huge stress day after day and I am sure that humor and making light of awful things is all part of their coping mechanism. None of us deserve to lose our jobs because of one stupid mistake - hopefully we learn from mistakes and become a better person because of it. I do despair sometimes of the feeling that every wrongdoer needs "punishment" as if revenge does anything to change people.

[Fozfromoz]

Stupid mistake , apology accepted. Thanks for all the good work that you do day in day out treating injured Thais, Buddhist and Muslim which is more than any of us posting here have ever done to help the victims of the war in the south.

It's their war not ours.

[chooka]

How can anyone say for certain that she isn't gloating? Or didn't mean to offend?

How can anyone say she is, or did mean to offend.. whatever happened to a presumption of innocence.

She/They are Muslim and smiling giving the victory sign over a deceased infidel???????

[p_brownstone]

The Nurse at the back playing with her mobile could at least pretend to be interested and concerned.

Look at the difference between the 2 Nurses at the back.

Exactly.

The (apparently) non-Muslim Senior Nurse on the right looks clearly angry and disapproving at the idiot Nurse who insulted the dead Officer, the Muslim Senior Nurse is TOTALLY uninterested and unconcerned, clearly bored; preferring to spend her time Texting friends or whatever.

All involved should be dismissed immediately.

You have to wonder what level of care non-Muslims receive in Hospitals in these areas.

Patrick

[chooka]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

WRONG Again! You obviously do not know the situation down south, I have been down there........... you are so wrong this time....

I don't agree. The V sign is instinctive when a camera is pointed at a young person. However, getting hot headed and blowing it out of proportion is your option, - if you so choose.

I feel sure that the posters who consider the nurses actions to be a silly mistake/that's what all young Thai women do/lighten up dudes/etc would still hold that opinion if it were their son/brother on the slab.

I have a different view of death than most posters here. I don't see death as morbid and macabre. It's part of the natural cycle. In New Orleans, a band hired to play at a funeral will end with upbeat music. Imagine the freedom of not being spooked by death - if you can.

but celebrating a kill of an infidel on behalf of islam on social media is just a little different.

[YeaBiGgiEs]

...and without the public criticism then Thai society wouldn't have even bothered or recognized that this was unprofessional and not of good moral character. Why should it be the public that holds Thais to standard human behaviors, ethics and morals?

[dundee48]

Let's not be naive. Ordinary muslims making the v sign and even dancing when non muslims are killed, are common all over the world. This time it are nurses that with smiling eyes make the v sign with a corpse, a person they should take care of instead of making and posting photos on social media. Absolute wrong.

Sacking them ? How about sending the police to their house and question all of them and their family members. If these nurses feel so strongly to celebrate the death of a patient in their care, i bet their family or friends are involved in this southern terrorism (teachers, monks, and ordinary people are killed so "terrorism" is the correct term.)

Again, absolutely disgusting.

At the very minimum it ought to command an official police investigation to establish whether or not the poor chap died while in the care of these animals.

Never been mentioned. First thing I would be thinking of if I were his commanding officer.

Err, nothing to fix after a bomb goes off.

Err,you do realise some people actually survive bomb blasts.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies deleted.

[HeijoshinCool]

As a cop for 25 years, and a homicide detective for 18, I've stood next to hundreds of the deceased, attended countless autopsies, and visited who knows how many ERs where a victim straddled being an assault case, and a homicide.

Never once did I witness any official, police or medical, at any scene, do something like this.

That's a period at the end of that last sentence.

[jpduggan]

DISGRACEFUL!!!

[hellodolly]

And if you sack them, you replace them with who? In a muslim area where they frequently shoot Buddhist teacher and shop owner?

It is easy to be angre and demand they are sacked, but the situation there is very difficult.

Sacking would end with the already bad health system in the south has 2 nurses less and service getting worse.

While the muslims have another example of double standards.

Well judging by their attitude on show for the world to see I would imagine that no matter the state of the health service down there I reckon it would be better off without nurses such as this who express such a abhorrent attitude. It wouldn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to think that those same nurses wouldn't give the level of care required of the innocent Buddhist teacher or shopkeeper you mentioned as solidarity for their Muslim brothers.

In my extremely humble opinion I think that your understandable and deep seated loathing of Thaksin as evidenced by your posts causes you to consider anything anti-Thaksin, no matter how tenuous or reprehensible, as justifiable. Sorry.

I am definatly anti Thaksin.

But his past present and future actions in no way justify the actions of the nurses.

Maybe the defenders of their actions would like to ask them selves would they want there lives in the care of medical personal with that kind of an attitude towards human life.

If there answer is no stop defending them.

If the answer is yes keep on defending them.

I myself think more of my life than to chose that kind of care givers.

[hellodolly]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

.

I don't agree. The V sign is instinctive when a camera is pointed at a young person. However, getting hot headed and blowing it out of proportion is your option, - if you so choose.

I feel sure that the posters who consider the nurses actions to be a silly mistake/that's what all young Thai women do/lighten up dudes/etc would still hold that opinion if it were their son/brother on the slab.

I have a different view of death than most posters here. I don't see death as morbid and macabre. It's part of the natural cycle. In New Orleans, a band hired to play at a funeral will end with upbeat music. Imagine the freedom of not being spooked by death - if you can.

So if your son were blown up while defusing a bomb rather than being distraught beyond comprehension you'd put it down to a part of life's big cycle and consider yourself lucky to be so astute as to not be spooked by death.

Of course I'm saying that's <deleted>. Imagine that - if you can.

I have lost an 18 year old son and you are right I was extremely distraught definatly not in a party mood. His was a drowning how ever the loss was just as big.

Easy to brush some things off until you go through them your self.

I hope he never has to learn the hard way. It is not a lesson in life I would wish on any one.

[rametindallas]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

You're correct; it wasn't meant to offend anybody. At least it wouldn't offend the audience it was meant for. Somehow the photo got into the hands of people who don't celebrate the death of a non-Muslim policeman and now that they're caught, they are sorry they got caught. They are probably heroes in their village and with all the haters/terrorists.

I've taken thousands of photos of Thai ladies and the only sign they make with their hands is thumb and forefinger by the cheek, James Bond style. Until this photo, I have never seen the 'victory' sign flashed by a Thai female. Since it is so prevalent, perhaps you, and some of the other posters who claim this is so prevalent can post some photos of young Thai women flashing the 'victory' sign. Until then, I thing you are pulling is out of your a**.

Off topic, but URL below linking to Thais with V sign in photos - don't know where you do your photography, but it is a very common gesture in Thailand, including females in my Thai family whose photos I will not post.

http://www.thaisabai.org/2009/09/the-thai-two-finger-salute/

Thanks, duly noted.

[mca]

[quote name=m

ca" post="6985384" timestamp="1383218493]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

.

I don't agree. The V sign is instinctive when a camera is pointed at a young person. However, getting hot headed and blowing it out of proportion is your option, - if you so choose.

I feel sure that the posters who consider the nurses actions to be a silly mistake/that's what all young Thai women do/lighten up dudes/etc would still hold that opinion if it were their son/brother on the slab.

I have a different view of death than most posters here. I don't see death as morbid and macabre. It's part of the natural cycle. In New Orleans, a band hired to play at a funeral will end with upbeat music. Imagine the freedom of not being spooked by death - if you can.

So if your son were blown up while defusing a bomb rather than being distraught beyond comprehension you'd put it down to a part of life's big cycle and consider yourself lucky to be so astute as to not be spooked by death.

Of course I'm saying that's <deleted>. Imagine that - if you can.

I have lost an 18 year old son and you are right I was extremely distraught definatly not in a party mood. His was a drowning how ever the loss was just as big.

Easy to brush some things off until you go through them your self.

I hope he never has to learn the hard way. It is not a lesson in life I would wish on any one.

Im truly sorry for your loss mate

[Prbkk]

Yes, Thailand does have extremely lax laws when it comes to protecting the rights to privacy of the deceased and this is a scandalous case of it. But not uncommon . For years, there was a huge notice board on the corner of Rama 4 and Siphaya, with graphic repulsive photos of the dead...accidents mostly but other causes of death as well. I avoid walking down there now...perhaps it has gone but it was there for at twenty years. Meant to shock and lead to better driving habits but was simply ghoulish.

These death photo sites are vile. When I fall of the perch, I don't want to be seen on the web in whatever, as is likely to be the case, distasteful circumstances of departure. A bit of dignity on exit, please

[Mitker]

Stupid, stupid young ladies. No amount of apologies are going to be able to reverse what has happened, the last 5 pages on this forum is a good example of the reaction. Added to the mix is that the young nurse in the OP is a Muslim intensifies the anger and brings religious emphasis into the fray.

What follows, without defending their actions in any way, is perhaps an explanation of what we are seeing.

Since the availability of digital cameras, and more important the increase of social media networks, the public has been aware of what people are posting (and in a lot of cases liking!) for simple one-up-man-ship. A really sad development of our evolution or the evolution of some. And certainly not restricted to Thailand.

People who are involved on a daily basis in stressful jobs where death blood and carnage are encountered, need a release, their brains cannot cope with this all the time. That is where black humour (perhaps an inappropriate phrase) comes in, a distraction from this carnage. It has been happening for centuries, invented or evolved with the horrors of war and death.

We have seen British servicemen posing, drinking with the enemies they had just killed in Malaysia

We have seen the same photographs of Americans in Vietnam doing the same.

More recently, pictures released and displayed on the internet from the interrogation centres in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

And everything in between, the above are extreme cases where the public have had access. If you have never seen photos of this kind, think yourself lucky. IMHO, this does not necessarily make these people bad people. Without a doubt stupid, but not always bad.

As stated above, this is in no way defense of what they have done, but a possible explanation of why it was done. Again, IMHO, the public apology in my view is tasteless, it should have been a face-to-face apology to the family of the deceased instead of a hospital doing a damage control exercise.

Very correct and balanced point of view IMO.

We are indeed left with the 2 options: plain stupidity or misplaced personal convictions. Most posts have taken a side.

And the damage control effort serves us the typical too little too late to be somewhat credible.

Nevertheless, I would take your examples with caution. Indeed, they are all related to servicemen. By their involvement in a conflict, they naturally picture the enemy as the menace to destroy. This is the nature of war. Once again, not to justify the above mentioned cases but to understand the logic that led to them.

But today, we are talking about nurses on duty. The Red Cross founder - who introduced the modern intervention of neutral individuals on battlefields to provide a humanistic relief to hit servicemen - would be horrified by this picture.

How can a fallen bomb squad officer could ever be perceived as a menace or enemy by a nurse under oath? Except if they blindly took side due to personal convictions.

But yes we are also left with the possibility of total immaturity/insensitivity for which I give a 10% chance.

In both case I don't see their place in any care department anyway.

[MAJIC]

I dont think that they meant to offend anybody. This stupid 'fingers' sign is used by just about all young Thai women when posing for a quick photo at any time. They just cannot help thrusting their two fingers up. Its their way of saying "hey look , its me"

For anyone looking to make a story out of it, i can only say "You obviously do not know young Thai women"

Most Thai women don't pose or make V signs in front of a dead body!

Most Thai women don't work around dead bodies every day !!

My Father had a saying: "You will never be short of an excuse" !

[cgphuket]

Oh, the number of times I have seen a picture of smiling Thais pointing at a dead farang and never heard an apology. I guess it all depends on whose ox is getting gored.

Really?

How many times, exactly? Is it a number between zero and one?

I've been here a long time and have never seen such a photo. I'm not saying that such a thing couldn't exist, but if it does exist, how many have you actually seen?

It's best not to use hyperbole - or outright fiction - when maligning an entire people.

Then you don't get out much. I too have seen lots of pics of smiling Thais pointing at bodies. Maybe you are right and we are all lying...

[JoeThePoster]

Even more worryingly, they whitened their faces in that pic by using masks.

[Scott]

There is an editorial piece posted here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/678616-thai-editorial-what-goes-on-in-their-minds/

[chrisinth]

Stupid, stupid young ladies. No amount of apologies are going to be able to reverse what has happened, the last 5 pages on this forum is a good example of the reaction. Added to the mix is that the young nurse in the OP is a Muslim intensifies the anger and brings religious emphasis into the fray.

What follows, without defending their actions in any way, is perhaps an explanation of what we are seeing.

Since the availability of digital cameras, and more important the increase of social media networks, the public has been aware of what people are posting (and in a lot of cases liking!) for simple one-up-man-ship. A really sad development of our evolution or the evolution of some. And certainly not restricted to Thailand.

People who are involved on a daily basis in stressful jobs where death blood and carnage are encountered, need a release, their brains cannot cope with this all the time. That is where black humour (perhaps an inappropriate phrase) comes in, a distraction from this carnage. It has been happening for centuries, invented or evolved with the horrors of war and death.

We have seen British servicemen posing, drinking with the enemies they had just killed in Malaysia

We have seen the same photographs of Americans in Vietnam doing the same.

More recently, pictures released and displayed on the internet from the interrogation centres in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

And everything in between, the above are extreme cases where the public have had access. If you have never seen photos of this kind, think yourself lucky. IMHO, this does not necessarily make these people bad people. Without a doubt stupid, but not always bad.

As stated above, this is in no way defense of what they have done, but a possible explanation of why it was done. Again, IMHO, the public apology in my view is tasteless, it should have been a face-to-face apology to the family of the deceased instead of a hospital doing a damage control exercise.

Very correct and balanced point of view IMO.

We are indeed left with the 2 options: plain stupidity or misplaced personal convictions. Most posts have taken a side.

And the damage control effort serves us the typical too little too late to be somewhat credible.

Nevertheless, I would take your examples with caution. Indeed, they are all related to servicemen. By their involvement in a conflict, they naturally picture the enemy as the menace to destroy. This is the nature of war. Once again, not to justify the above mentioned cases but to understand the logic that led to them.

But today, we are talking about nurses on duty. The Red Cross founder - who introduced the modern intervention of neutral individuals on battlefields to provide a humanistic relief to hit servicemen - would be horrified by this picture.

How can a fallen bomb squad officer could ever be perceived as a menace or enemy by a nurse under oath? Except if they blindly took side due to personal convictions.

But yes we are also left with the possibility of total immaturity/insensitivity for which I give a 10% chance.

In both case I don't see their place in any care department anyway.

@ Mitker, thanks for a level reply to this post, I was half expecting to be crucified by other posters for not following the general consensus that this story is based on a religious viewpoint from these nurses. The point of my post was to give an alternative view as to what may have been behind it, ie, stupidity. The very fact that people could think this is about a Muslim/Buddhist conflict in a hospital is quite frankly an extremely scary scenario, especially for ones that need the hospital services.

As for the examples given, yes, they were all war related, the first examples that I thought of at the time, and I agree, not very good ones. However, I spent 23 years in the Royal Navy, mostly on small patrol boats involved mostly with anti-drugs/anti-arms/anti-II (illegal immigrant) patrols, and I have seen some of weird things that relatively "normal" people are capable off in stressful situations outside of a conflict situation.

One occasion when we had to recover 24 bodies from a Panamanian registered grain carrier (the cargo shifted in heavy seas and the boat turned turtle), they had some of the corpses sat in a circle playing cards with some of the crew. The weather was that bad that the only way to recover the bodies was by swimmer, an extremely unpleasant job to say the least; the swimmer was one of the ones playing cards. Complete and utter disrespect for the dead, but it happened.

I have personally witnessed numerous similar instances, at different times, in different places with different crews. How to explain? It really is a case of you having to have been there, if you haven't, then think yourself lucky. But the point is, it has/does/did happen. For those of you that can remember the series MASH, this was a fictional series based on fact about a field hospital during Vietnam run by professional medical teams. They needed the "black humour" to remain sane. All stress related.

I am not saying that this is the case here, but it is an alternative to the "Us vs Them" scenario that a lot have painted. People who see death on a daily basis, view it differently from normal people, this should be remembered. That what they did was wrong, absolutely no doubt, and I still believe that the apology should have been face-to-face with the family of the deceased instead of a media based damage control exercise from the hospital.

NB: My apologies for rabbiting on, it was not my intention.

[mca]

I hear what you're saying Chris but I reckon an apology is just adding insult to injury and certainly doesn't go far enough. As the adage goes " You're not sorry you're just sorry you got caught out"

No matter the who's, what's, why's and wherefore's of the situation. To me they're of no consequence. Whether they're hardcore separatist supporters celebrating the death of the enemy or just thoughtless dullards doesn't matter. The bottom line is they're guilty of misconduct that under the hospital rules and regulations or the terms of their contract is almost guaranteed to be a case of dismissal.

I remember when I used to work in a hotel and a couple of stewards got into a fight in the canteen. Turned out that one was shagging the other ones wife. I was entirely sympathetic to the bloke whose wife was playing around but again, the bottom line was fighting was a case for instant dismissal. End of story.

If the hospital doesn't have a rule supporting grounds for their dismissal I'd be extremely surprised. Of course if the hospital really wanted to do damage limitation they'd have dismissed them immediately without some half arsed apology to try and cover their arse.

Edited November 1, 2013 by mca

[CelticBhoy]

Stupid, stupid young ladies. No amount of apologies are going to be able to reverse what has happened, the last 5 pages on this forum is a good example of the reaction. Added to the mix is that the young nurse in the OP is a Muslim intensifies the anger and brings religious emphasis into the fray.

What follows, without defending their actions in any way, is perhaps an explanation of what we are seeing.

Since the availability of digital cameras, and more important the increase of social media networks, the public has been aware of what people are posting (and in a lot of cases liking!) for simple one-up-man-ship. A really sad development of our evolution or the evolution of some. And certainly not restricted to Thailand.

People who are involved on a daily basis in stressful jobs where death blood and carnage are encountered, need a release, their brains cannot cope with this all the time. That is where black humour (perhaps an inappropriate phrase) comes in, a distraction from this carnage. It has been happening for centuries, invented or evolved with the horrors of war and death.

We have seen British servicemen posing, drinking with the enemies they had just killed in Malaysia

We have seen the same photographs of Americans in Vietnam doing the same.

More recently, pictures released and displayed on the internet from the interrogation centres in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

And everything in between, the above are extreme cases where the public have had access. If you have never seen photos of this kind, think yourself lucky. IMHO, this does not necessarily make these people bad people. Without a doubt stupid, but not always bad.

As stated above, this is in no way defense of what they have done, but a possible explanation of why it was done. Again, IMHO, the public apology in my view is tasteless, it should have been a face-to-face apology to the family of the deceased instead of a hospital doing a damage control exercise.

Very correct and balanced point of view IMO.

We are indeed left with the 2 options: plain stupidity or misplaced personal convictions. Most posts have taken a side.

And the damage control effort serves us the typical too little too late to be somewhat credible.

Nevertheless, I would take your examples with caution. Indeed, they are all related to servicemen. By their involvement in a conflict, they naturally picture the enemy as the menace to destroy. This is the nature of war. Once again, not to justify the above mentioned cases but to understand the logic that led to them.

But today, we are talking about nurses on duty. The Red Cross founder - who introduced the modern intervention of neutral individuals on battlefields to provide a humanistic relief to hit servicemen - would be horrified by this picture.

How can a fallen bomb squad officer could ever be perceived as a menace or enemy by a nurse under oath? Except if they blindly took side due to personal convictions.

But yes we are also left with the possibility of total immaturity/insensitivity for which I give a 10% chance.

In both case I don't see their place in any care department anyway.

@ Mitker, thanks for a level reply to this post, I was half expecting to be crucified by other posters for not following the general consensus that this story is based on a religious viewpoint from these nurses. The point of my post was to give an alternative view as to what may have been behind it, ie, stupidity. The very fact that people could think this is about a Muslim/Buddhist conflict in a hospital is quite frankly an extremely scary scenario, especially for ones that need the hospital services.

As for the examples given, yes, they were all war related, the first examples that I thought of at the time, and I agree, not very good ones. However, I spent 23 years in the Royal Navy, mostly on small patrol boats involved mostly with anti-drugs/anti-arms/anti-II (illegal immigrant) patrols, and I have seen some of weird things that relatively "normal" people are capable off in stressful situations outside of a conflict situation.

One occasion when we had to recover 24 bodies from a Panamanian registered grain carrier (the cargo shifted in heavy seas and the boat turned turtle), they had some of the corpses sat in a circle playing cards with some of the crew. The weather was that bad that the only way to recover the bodies was by swimmer, an extremely unpleasant job to say the least; the swimmer was one of the ones playing cards. Complete and utter disrespect for the dead, but it happened.

I have personally witnessed numerous similar instances, at different times, in different places with different crews. How to explain? It really is a case of you having to have been there, if you haven't, then think yourself lucky. But the point is, it has/does/did happen. For those of you that can remember the series MASH, this was a fictional series based on fact about a field hospital during Vietnam run by professional medical teams. They needed the "black humour" to remain sane. All stress related.

I am not saying that this is the case here, but it is an alternative to the "Us vs Them" scenario that a lot have painted. People who see death on a daily basis, view it differently from normal people, this should be remembered. That what they did was wrong, absolutely no doubt, and I still believe that the apology should have been face-to-face with the family of the deceased instead of a media based damage control exercise from the hospital.

NB: My apologies for rabbiting on, it was not my intention.

I think you'll find MASH was Korea, not Vietnam.