Early Tuesday morning (12/4), the hospital where Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, was being treated for difficulties in pregnancy received a call, supposedly from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse who was covering the switchboard, unsuspectingly transferred the call to Middleton’s private nurse, who gave out some information about the patient and her husband, Prince William.

The call was actually from two Australian radio DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, hosts for 2DayFM in Sydney. The call had been recorded, and the station’s lawyers said it was okay to go. It was broadcast with much fanfare and hilarity. A banner on the station’s website went up reading “biggest royal prank ever.”

People were upset, angry, outraged. The hospital was indignant and announced they would investigate.

Greig and Christian stated, “We were very surprised that our call was put through. We thought we’d be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents. We’re very sorry if we’ve caused any issues and we’re glad to hear that Kate is doing well.”

Their terrible accents: the implication is that anyone who falls for them is to blame for being duped by such bad accents. Maybe Saldanha’s own accent made it harder for her to assess theirs.

They did “cause some issues.” On Friday Saldanha was found dead by her own hand. There’s no way they could have guessed that a nurse they tricked would commit suicide. Yet it should have been obvious they’d be getting her in trouble.

Before Saldanha’s death, 2Day FM also apologized on its Twitter feed. “2Day FM sincerely apologises for any inconvenience cause(d) by the enquiry to Kate’s hospital. The radio segment was done with the best intentions and we wish Kate and her family all the best.”

With “the best intentions”? There were no good intentions to benefit the woman in the hospital, her family, or the hospital treating her. The only intentions the DJs had were to benefit themselves and their employer by catching the attention of listeners.

From that perspective they thought it went well. Earlier the day of the apology they promoted it as a “hilarious prank.” Grieg exulted “This is by far the best prank I’ve ever been involved in… it seemed so far-fetched to us but it actually worked. It’s definitely a career highlight.”

Better apologies, and stopping the publicity machine to calm things down would have been a good idea at this point.

The station went on playing clips from “the prank call the world is talking about.” Christian bubbled about making “international headlines.”

King Edward VII’s Hospital, where Saldanha worked.

When Saldanha’s death became known, the station said they were “deeply saddened” and extended their “deepest sympathies.” They said Greig and Christian had been suspended until further notice “out of respect,” and that “we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances.” This time around, they didn’t apologize. Maybe they thought it was a situation beyond apologizing for.

No, no matter how awful it is, they should apologize. Apologies won’t bring Saldanha back, but they are still called for. The apology should examine exactly what they did wrong. It should detail what they will do to make sure nothing like this will happen again. It should offer aid to Saldanha’s two children.

What good will that do? It will show that Saldanha mattered. It will help show where the limits to “pranks” should be drawn. It will show that there are things more important than amazing publicity.