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...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but got pissed instead.

Re:Mmm...

[x2A]

Yeah I nearly pissed myself laughing when I heard about it yesterday, but the irony was too much to handle, and I passed out.

Re:Mmm...

[welshsocialist]

From what I read, no. The winner was Lucy Davidson. She felt the same symptoms the victim felt. See here.

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??

[starwed]

It's a bit harsh to call it stupidity; water poisoning isn't that well known.

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??

[s20451]

However, ignorance is no defence. Stressing your body always incurs a serious risk.

Right, so the hell with exercise.

Re:Killed??

[theGil]

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

Re:Killed??

[celardore]

It's a bit harsh to call it stupidity; water poisoning isn't that well known. It is a condition that is known by users of the ecstasy community though, especially after Leah Betts, a case that happened in the UK some years back. I've known several people in this lifestyle and they were always conscious of the amount of water they were drinking - even when high as a kite. Not too much, but not too little either.

The knowledge is out there, just whether you've heard it or not.

Re:Killed??

[value_added]

It's a bit harsh to call it stupidity ...

Fercryinoutloud, she was drinking dihydrogen monoxide!!!

Dunno about you, but everyone knows that's dangerous stuff. Been in an airport recently? The terrorists are now using it.

More info here!

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??

[theGil]

Knowledge is not a prerequisite for a Darwin award, though lack thereof often is.

I disagree. The author of darwinawards.com lays out "Excelennce", or an "Astounding misapplication of judgement" as a prerequisite. Look at the other comments on this page. Many people didn't think drinking large quantities of water could kill you...just not something everyone thinks of.

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.

sheesh

[yagu]

This is not some mysterious malady. The radio station is off the scale negligent for putting contestants in the position of potential serious harm:

• Wiki
• another
• another
• answers.com

I'd had this argument many times with a friend about my water intake. I've always known my intake was fine (hint: coffee counts...), but in the course of that discussion I found many articles on the problems one could encounter by drinking too much water.

I won't claim any person on the street should know the dangers of drinking too much water, but the people putting on this contest (sorry, stunt) could have recognized they were in deep waters with a modicum of research.

I'm not much for lawsuits, but I hope the radio station that put on this stunt makes significant remedy to the lady's family.

Re:sheesh

[phasm42]

This article has more details; they say that a nurse had called during the contest to warn them about it:

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, The Bee reported.

They also mention that the winner felt pretty sick afterwards as well.

As God is my witness...

[RobertB-DC]

... I thought turkeys could fly.

In other news...

[meta-monkey]

In other news, a Kansas City man died after slipping in pools of urine surrounding PS3 boxes at a local Best Buy.

Her family

[inKubus]

Sorry in advance:

Her family is probably pretty "Pissed". This contest really went down the "Toilet". I can't believe how it's been "Sprayed" all over the news. Talk about a "Drinking Problem". As said to the second place contestant: "Urine" luck! I guess she didn't really get a fair "Shake".

Re:Call the Darwin awards

[dewie]

If you can't figure out why a mother of three is ineligible for the Darwin Awards, I think you may need to climb out of the gene pool yourself.

No, no, no

[User 956]

They should have had them drinking Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator. It's got what Moms crave. It's got electrolytes.

Dangerous!

[Aladrin]

Dihydrogen Monoxide is Dangerous! They've been telling us for years, but we just don't listen!

http://www.dhmo.org/

Re:Man, even water can kill you!

[R3d M3rcury]

Water--or dihydrogen monoxide--is a dangerous chemical that we treat far too lightly! Water contributes to global warming, soil erosion, and caused the levee failures in New Orleans!

Become informed of the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide before it's too late!

This problem can be solved with legislation

[PingSpike]

Clearly this water stuff is a dangerous substance that needs to be controlled. I think it should only be available from behind the pharmacy counter, that way kids don't get ahold of it and drink themselves to death.

Plagarising Bastards!

[elviscious]

From the article:

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is upset by a rapid intake of water.

From Wikipedia:

Water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.

What is this 8th grade English class?

Re:They should have...

[sokoban]

Btw, I still think this is insane. The body should just pass any water it doesn't need straight to the bladder. Maybe you should submit a bug report or take this issue up with the dev team.

Gatorade?

[HunterZ]

Why the heck didn't they use Gatorade instead of water?

Re:Gatorade?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this modded funny?

There are two ways that Gatorade (or Powerade or most any sports drink) would be vastly superior to water. First, the sugar content in a sports drink raises the blood sugar, causing a feeling of satiation. It would be far more difficult to consume two liters of a sports drink than two liters of water (the amount that the lady drank). It's somewhat self-regulating. Second, the isotonic solution wouldn't disrupt the balance in electrolytes, which is the cause of death for this lady.

The use of Gatorade would be safer, by far.

Re:Man, even water can kill you!

[leathered]

Other risks come from the chlorine put in tap water to stop bacteria from growing - well the bacteria in your guts you kind of need, for digestion etc. Boiling the water first evaporates off the chlorine, otherwise, you're disinfecting yourself everytime you drink it, an accumulative effect.,

Speaking as a former water scientist, this is complete BS. The residual levels of chlorine in drinking water in the UK are minimal, usually no more than 1 mg/l, and are maintained as a precaution to prevent contamination in the ditribution system. There is no way that this amount is capable of destroying bacteria in the gut, and chlorine being the highly reactive element that it is will combine with the first thing it finds when it hits your stomach and render it useless as a disinfectant.

There is a middle voice

[tepples]

Sorry, may be wrong here, but I thought passive (voice) verbs occurred when the subject of the sentence was not the one committing the action. To say that, "She died." is to say that she was the one undertaking the dying action, which is an action

"She died" is middle voice, as are many other intransitive verbs in English. The active and passive voices of this clause are "She killed" and "She was killed". The forms "killed" vs. "died" show suppletion per voice in the same way that "go" vs. "went" show suppletion per tense.

Complain to Their Advertisers

[RedSynapse]

The KDND website has a list of all the companies that advertise with them.

I've put together the following email addresses of KDND's sponsors, so if you think that the folks at KDND are a bunch of negligent twits who probably don't deserve their advertising dollars then why not email these companies and let them know?

Info@urban-body.com, hr@wyotech.com, smichaels@sierracollege.edu, foundation@sierracollege.edu, marc.goff@US.REDBULL.COM, cs_online@albertsons.com, lgradisher@jewels.com, mediarelations@officedepot.com, communityrelations@officedepot.com, corpcsf@wellsfargo.com, home.pa-newsroom.168d00@statefarm.com, admin@PowerTripBev.com, kburns@ckr.com, chopkins@ckr.com, customerservice@partsamerica.com, oshgift@osh.com, customerservice@tillys.com, info@heald.edu, info@louderlaw.com, dale@sleeptrain.com, webmaster@NissanUSA.com, joseph.l.goode@bankofamerica.com You can also contact KDND's general sales manager at fhormell@entercom.com