Woman Killed In Wii-Related Competition

snuffin writes to tell us that a local radio competition to "hold your wee for a Wii" has ended with a Sacramento woman dead from water poisoning. From the article: "An Associated Press interview with another contestant, named James Ybarra, claimed that contestants were initially given eight ounce bottles of water to drink every fifteen minutes, with larger bottles being used once contestants began to drop out. According to Ybarra, 'They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk.' He described the victim as 'a nice lady' and that 'she was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.'"

Comments

Mmm...

[EinZweiDrei]

What a stupid world.

Re:Mmm...

[dr_dank]

Actually, it looks like her family won themselves a radio station...

Killed??

[celardore]

A woman wasn't killed, she died as a result of self induced water intoxication. It's a difference that means a lot. The headline makes it sound like a sport killing of some kind. Would have been more appropriate to say "Woman dies In Wii-Related Competition".

Re:Killed??

[GiovanniZero]

This title is completely ridiculous. It's sensationalist and makes it look like someone died using the Wii. The womans death has nothing to do with a Wii, it could have been a competition for anything.

Re:Killed??

[Iamthefallen]

She was killed by her own stupidity

If we're picking words, then I'd say she was killed by her ignorance, not stupidity.

If she knew that excess water consumption can kill you, then yes, she was stupid and the station doesn't have a liability.

But did she know that? Did the station inform her? Did the station know? When she started to feel sick, is it reasonable to expect her to go to the emergency room just for drinking water? And even if she had, was it already too late at that point?

I just have questions, not answers, but I also reserve judgment until the details are known.

Re:Killed??

[theGil]

I agree. The darwinaward tag made me frown...not everyone knew it could be fatal.

Re:Killed??

[roscivs]

I'm surprised (on some level) that a soldier listening to the station didn't call to say it was a bad idea.

Actually, some reports are saying that a nurse called in and warned that drinking too much water is dangerous. See http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16466174.htm for example.

Gina Sherrod, who competed with Strange in the contest, said her family listened to the radio show, and told her that a nurse was on air warning that drinking too much water is dangerous. Sherrod said a DJ rebuffed the nurse, saying the contestants signed waivers that addressed only publicity issues and made no mention of health or safety concerns.

For that reason, I think the studio should be held liable.

Re:Killed??

[BakaHoushi]

I disagree. Nintendo should NOT be held liable in any way, shape, or form. If the death of this woman was DIRECTLY related to the use of a Wii (for example, the Wii-mote exploded because of direct contact with something) that'd be one thing. However, the reason for her death was only related to a competition. This competition's ONLY connection to Nintendo was that Nintendo sold these people a system, which they then offered as a prize in a publicity stunt.

If I offer you a new Honda Civic car if you'll run across a busy highway naked, and you get hit by a truck and killed, should HONDA be held responsible because they made their product "too desirable?" Fuck no. The only people who should be held accountable should be me for being an asshole, and you for being an idiot that listened to an asshole.

What about competitions that offer money as a reward? Should the U.S. mint be held accountable for people getting hurt while trying to earn money?

All I'm saying is, people want things. Always. They offered something for free, and someone died because of it. There is no harm in playing a Wii system. In that regard, Nintendo has done their job. There certainly IS, however, a danger in playing Russian Roulette for one. So, Nintendo has nothing to do with this. Only the woman and the radio station. So until a Wii itself hurts someone, and not what people would do for one (and those damn Klondike bars. *MY* great grandmother died because someone shot her for one...) Nintendo's clean.

Re:Killed??

[FeTrut]

Not only is it ridiculous to assume that she had *enough* facts, but the tone of your entire post is insulting and for lack of a better term, soulless.
There are 3 children out there who just lost their mother due to a competition noone would have expected could end in death and you see fit to call her stupid and issue glib remarks like "Lady 3 - Darwin 0". I'm sorry, but i find that a bit disgusting.

With regard to her supposed stupidity, the keyword is expected. It's not enough to know that you *could* die from something. I know i could die driving home today, even greater chance because the roads are snowy and icy. If someone veers out of control and hits me on the highway and i die, am i to be called stupid because i decided to drive today? I don't expect to, and neither do the hundreds of thousands of other people out driving.

It seems a lot of people, and me included, before today assumed that drinking a lot of water results in the side effect of needing to pee really bad.

Eating competitions are a widespread recognized sport these days, you don't see Kobayashi dying from eating 50 hot dogs, why should anyone *expect* to die from drinking a lot of water?

The symptoms afterwards were, as far as i know, a bad headache. Well hell, i'd go home and pop and asprin, the last thing i'd be thinking is i need to be hospitalized.

I guess i'm stupid too.