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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.'"
I knew you could drown in the stuff, but dying from drinking too much of it? Wow. Didn't know that.
Before calling the poor woman a lemming/ a candidate for Darwin's award blahblahblah, I got to ask why can't they (the organisers) supply isotonic sports drink in this sort of competition?
Water intoxication is more common than many of us would like to think. It is part of the reason why many marathons now supply sports drink in addition to water. Newbies in many cases either don't drink enough or cannot stop drinking until water drains them from the inside.
It's a bit harsh to call it stupidity; water poisoning isn't that well known.
With such a gigantic user community, I am always amazed how long it takes Slashdot to pick up stories. When I first started reading, I was finding out about new and obscure stories and events left and right it seemed, but now I'm hearing stories like this on the local radio long before it his Slashdot. Is it because there literally are so many stories being submitted, or is the staff and community at Slashdot just that behind lately?
The radio station is the one holding the contest. Drinking too much water is a non obvious danger. But the radio station is the one who should perform the due dilligance.
Just because we happen to know that water can be dangerous doesn't mean other people do. And certainly expecting a mother of 3 doing a 'contest' that sounds like something fun and silly to expect any danger from the contest is unreasonable.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that generally people, rightly or wrongly, Trust people in charge. Think of the Milgram Experiment as an extreme example. Even though the objectives of the experiment are different, it shows the same underlying principle: people generally listen to people they think are athority figures. And in this case, the contest holders are the athority figures.
Beyond the lawsuit, I would not be shocked to see criminal charges against the people who ran the contest. Their actions directly led to the death of another person.
"The bass, the rock, the mic, the treble. I like my coffee black, just like my metal" - Mindless Self Indulgence
From Wikipedia:
What is this 8th grade English class?
I'm not one to support frivolous lawsuits, but when I first heard about this contest a week or so back I wondered if they were aware that drinking too much water can be extremely dangerous. Apparently not, the "you can quit at any time if you feel bad" wasn't much of a disclaimer. From all the reports I've read, they didn't even consult with doctors.
I'm sad that my initial assumption that this would turn out bad came true. I'd rather be wrong on things like this.
Hey, I have an idea! Let's have a contest where people shoot apples off each other's heads William Tell style! I bet that'd get great ratings!
The cake is a pie
The past week has seen a rash of harsh moderation. Anything that doesn't wholely, completely, and directly deal with the topic at hand is Off-Topic. Any reaction or joke 20 others might have had or told is Redundant, regardless of whether or not it has already been said. Anything that might provoke dialogue is Flamebait. Everything else is a Troll.
I initially had attributed this to random chance, some inexperienced moderators being overly liberal in their application of -1s. However, as this has persisted across the board for some time now I am at a loss as to its cause.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
I'm surprised (on some level) that a soldier listening to the station didn't call to say it was a bad idea. Having been stationed at Fort Sill during the summer months we were reminded of this lesson each day. We were under strict control about our water intake during category-5 heat. Nonetheless, this is a sad situation that was completely preventable.
History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
When I began my Lithium treatment, I experienced my first encounter with what I call "Lithium Thirst". Extreme unquenchable thirst - until you've experienced Lithium Thirst, you haven't experienced thirst. I'd easily go through at least 2-4L in an hour sometimes. What you have to remember is that as your body's sodium level drops (due to the water) your body starts to retain as much liquid/etc as possible to "retain" the sodium, which only screws the body up more as more water gets added. A healthy salt intake is really needed. With Lithium a healthy salt intake is really important as it aids in removing the element from your body.
I agree. Most people don't realize that you can die from drinking too much water at once. I was telling my friend about this story, and his response was: "Water? How much did she drink? I have drank 20 beers in a night and not died, and all she drank was water!"
I had to explain to him about alcohol being a diuretic and about excessive water upsetting the electrolyte balance in your blood. Anyway, the point is, I wouldn't say that she is stupid for not knowing this. People aren't generally taught about this problem because it's very unlikely to happen. The only reason that I knew about this was from another similar news story about 8 years ago.
I know this is irrelevant in terms of tort law, but look at the standards for criminal entrapment.
There has to be an enticement to do a crime the person wasn't predisposed to do otherwise. This is a high standard to meet, and very few accusations entrapment are ruled in favor of.
It does reflect something about the morality of law, that people should not be held as strictly responsible for actions that they were enticed into doing for one reason or another, that they were not predisposed to do otherwise.
I can only assume that Ms. Strange was not someone that would regularly drink gallons of water in a short period of time.
I fully believe in taking responsibility for your actions, but in this case the station put Ms. Strange in harm's way. A prudent man (an important concept in tort law) would have researched the possible dangers of excessive water consumption, limited the intake accordingly, had medical staff on hand, and monitored the contestants for a period afterward. The station did not act with this prudence.
She was injured in a way that was caused by their negligence. It's a pretty clear cut case.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
During the contest, a nurse called in to the station warn of the dangers of drinking too much water quickly. Her worries were dismissed by the disc jockey
...
That fact makes the station (and the DJ) criminally negligible for the death. Well, In My Opinion as IANAL and I'm also not American, so I don't know what corporation-friendly laws you will have to counteract this.
They were warned. They still went ahead. That's worse than manslaughter, it's not just being ignorant when you are told by a fucking nurse that it is dangerous.
In the short term the DJ and show planning team will get the sack (and good luck getting a new job with 'killed a contestant' on your resumé), hopefully in the long term the contestants and the family of the deceased will get some kind of fair compensation for this incident.
I must admit that the people saying she was in the wrong really should get a balanced perspective on life too
Different people have different reactions. One time, when I was dehydrated, I walked into my regular coffee shop and asked for the biggest cup of tap water they had. 42oz. I drained it in under 20s, and asked for another, and then another. A gallon of water in about 2 minutes. I kept it all down, much to the amazement of the girl behind the counter who had never seen anybody drink as much. By the time I got home, I had to go to the can. Badly. ;)
Drinking a gallon of water in one sitting is pretty stupid. Could have caused serious problems for me. And I sincerely doubt I could drink that much now. But the point is that there's a million and one factors that can affect how much of anything you can take before your body has an adverse reaction. And as this story tells, the adverse reaction isn't always immediate.
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
For anyone who thinks only a moron could die this particular way:
Tycho Brahe
OK, firstly, that says that he was supposed to have died from his bladder exploding, not from water intoxication as she did. Then further to that, the wikipedia article states "Recent investigations have suggested that Tycho did not die from urinary problems but instead from mercury poisoning: toxic levels of it have been found in his hair and hair-roots."So, really, a poor example of someone else dying this way.
Haha, now there's a movie that needs wider exposure in the geek community :) Too bad it got no more than a cursory theatrical release, and no promotion at all. Freakin' Fox.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
There was a similar case in Denver, Colorado
Here, it was blamed on drug use and not the true killer. Oh well. If it weren't for DEA misinformation perhaps this wii tragedy could have been averted.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Water poisoning isn't that well known.
Agreed. I seem to recall the bizarre story of an american woman in the seventies and eighties, who happened to have the highest registered IQ in Mensa (her succesor was Marilyn Vos Savant - two females in a row!). This lady, who suffered from manic-depressive disorder, became obsessed with water and made herself force-drink ridiculous amounts of it. She died one day from what was classified as something like 'internal drowning', which is to say, without being submerged in the stuff itself. And she wasn't even trying to hold it in.
It's quite possible that this story may be an urban legend, so if anybody has the facts on had to prove or disprove it, please post!
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty