General Etiquette > Family and Children

News: Mom dies from water intoxication in radio contest

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kingsrings:
Okay, this is happening locally in my neck of the woods, so of course it's all over the media here in Northern CA. Now apparently it's nation and world-wide as well! Gotta love it when your city hits the news for all the wrong reasons, but I digress. To brief those who aren't familar with this story, a 28 year-old mother of three participated in a radio contest last weekend where the prize was a Wii video game. The object of the contest was to drink as much water as possible without going to the bathroom. The one who could hold out the longest won the contest and the video game. Here is a brief news story on it: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/01/13/water.intox.ap/index.html
So the mom died of water intoxication.
So, what's your take on this terrible tragedy? On one hand, I feel that the mom was ultimately responsible and can't believe that someone would risk their health, life and limb just over a video game to make her kids happy. She felt sick during the contest, yet kept on going (note: she didn't win it) because she wanted the video game for her kids so badly. On the other hand, the radio station kept urging them on and never warned the contestants about the dangers of water intoxication, only that they should stop if they started feeling badly.
This is the first time I've heard of someone dying from participating in a radio contest. The only thing close would be people dying from participating in the Chubby Bunny game. In both situations, even though I feel terrible for the families left behind, I kind of feel that anyone who would endanger their life like this deserves the Darwin award.

LtPowers:
Technically, I'm not sure she's eligible for the Darwin Award, seeing as how her genes have already been propagated.  The gene pool is no better off for her death, unless she would have had more kids.

Morbidity aside, it is a tragedy, but one that should have been avoided.  This contest never should have taken place; water intoxication is an entirely predictable outcome from overingestion of water.  The contest organizers are equally at fault here.


Powers  &8^]

IndianInlaw:
Who knows you can die of drinking too much water?

It's not common knowledge.

RegionMom:
I first heard about water intoxication from an old episode of ER.  Some guy was trying to flush out his system for a work -related drug test.
 
I wonder if there was a liability waver from the station.  But any good lawyer could fuss around that.  
Who is responsible?  I dunno.  I am all for fun and games, and getting free stuff, but she had to have know she was not feeling well.  How much did she drink, in what period or time?
I remember one time trying to drink 8 glasses of water to be healthy and I had not done it one day so on my bed at bedtime I tried to drink over 1 liter.  My ears felt like they were swimming!  I had to quit.
And I was all of 19 and did not have that "I am the mommy now, I must take care of myself so that I can take care of my kids" gene yet.  
Some lawsuit will ensue.  
Hope someone donate a W11 (whatever) to the kids!!

kingsrings:

--- Quote from: IndianInlaw on January 16, 2007, 06:57:13 PM ---Who knows you can die of drinking too much water?

It's not common knowledge.

--- End quote ---

But what about the common sense of not going to the bathroom? Who wouldn't think that wouldn't be taking a risk? Our bodies give us obvious, discomforting warning signs when we ignore the natural elimination process. Anyone with common sense would know that this was not a good idea, just like holding your breath would make you suffocate. And once you start feeling as rotten as she did (even calling in sick to work), you should know that your body is giving you warning signs. It will be interesting to see what happens court-wise with this case. I'm also wondering why the radio station's legal team allowed this to happen.

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