Stupid Wee related Wii contest kills contestant

[eldaec]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6261509.stm

US woman dies after water contest 
 
A Californian woman who took part in a water-drinking contest to win a video game system has died of water intoxication, tests have shown.
Jennifer Strange had taken part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" game run by KDND 107.9 radio in Sacramento, which promised the winner a Nintendo Wii.

A work colleague said Ms Strange had reported her head was hurting hours after the contest and was going home.

Ms Strange, 28, was found dead on Friday at her house in Rancho Cordova.

Local assistant coroner Ed Smith said initial tests showed death was "consistent with water intoxication".

One of Ms Strange's work colleagues, Laura Rios, said: "She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad.

"She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."

The station said its staff were stunned at the death
 

[Riggswolfe]

Up until this article I'd never heard of water intoxication. Still, that's a sad way to die, she was probably trying to get it for her kids or boyfriend or something.

[bhodi]

Same. I'd like to laugh too, but water intoxication is pretty obscure.

[Ironwood]

I've heard of a couple of cases before this.

[WayAbvPar]

Isn't that how Natalie Wood died?

[Kenrick]

Isn't that how Natalie Wood died?

 

[Llava]

Epitaph:
"Jennifer Strange
Died of water intoxication.
Yup. Fitting name."

[Murgos]

A nurse I know said they would get a couple of cases a week during the summer.  Mostly it's fairly mild nausea and such but it can give you hallucinations and such.

[Ironwood]

Isn't that how Natalie Wood died?

 

I don't get it.  And the Internet's not helping me.

[Riggswolfe]

Isn't that how Natalie Wood died?

 

I don't get it.  And the Internet's not helping me.

Natalie Wood drowned after falling off of her husband's yacht during a party.

[Abagadro]

We had a case here in Utah where parents forced their problem child to drink water as punishment/some sort of weird therapy and she died. Too much water causes your brain to swell up.  The mother was convicted of involuntary manslaughter if memory serves.

[Miasma]

Ten people got fired over it.  They will still get sued into oblivion.

In an online recording of the show, the DJs can be heard making comments joking about people dying from water intoxication, even discussing a case in Northern California two years ago in which student Matthew Carrington, 21, died after drinking too much water during a fraternity pledge.

One of the DJs even admitted they maybe should have done some research before the contest.

One female caller, who identified herself as Eva, also phoned in to warn the radio station that drinking too much water can kill.

[Signe]

I drink a ton of water.  A swollen brain would explain a lot.

[Murgos]

Ten people got fired over it.  They will still get sued into oblivion.

In an online recording of the show, the DJs can be heard making comments joking about people dying from water intoxication, even discussing a case in Northern California two years ago in which student Matthew Carrington, 21, died after drinking too much water during a fraternity pledge.

One of the DJs even admitted they maybe should have done some research before the contest.

One female caller, who identified herself as Eva, also phoned in to warn the radio station that drinking too much water can kill.

I'm not a lawyer and have no clue what constitutes negligence to the point that it becomes a criminal proceeding rather than civil but this certainly sounds like grounds for jail time.  It's ok for radio shows to have the illusion of stupid risks and danger to keep people interested but not to actually be stupidly dangerous.

[Merusk]

News this morning is there's a homicide investigation that's going on.  The Djs may be charged with manslaughter, depending on how the investigation goes.  The local morning show played part of the segment where she was complaining about having headaches and felt sick and somewhat lightheaded.  Their response was "oh you'll get sick and be fine.  Did you know this is what it feels like when you're drowning."

They're pretty fucked.

[Sky]

Maybe this can serve as the first step in getting rid of those moronic morning talk shows. Who the fuck listens to that drivel? Play some music, dipshits.

[angry.bob]

News this morning is there's a homicide investigation that's going on.  The Djs may be charged with manslaughter, depending on how the investigation goes.  The local morning show played part of the segment where she was complaining about having headaches and felt sick and somewhat lightheaded.  Their response was "oh you'll get sick and be fine.  Did you know this is what it feels like when you're drowning."

They're pretty fucked.

The only thing that should mitigate in their favor is the widespread ignorance that drinking more than a half of gallon of water can, and probably will kill a healthy adult. Well, like .7 gallons of water, but I like to err on the side of not dying. If that report is correct and anyone involved with the show knew of water of intoxication, let alone the DJ's discussing a fatality and then telling the woman she'll be fine...

Anyone working at the station who heard that, which would probably be everyone working at the station, is a murderer. The radio station should be seized, sold, and the proceedings split amongst the constestants. Speaking of which, I wonder if the other contestants will sue now too, since the station apparently intentionaly tried to make them poison themselves.

[Strazos]

Hmmm, I drink large amounts of water all the time, and I've never suffered from any of the early signs of water intoxication. How do metabolic rates factor into this, because I have a very high metabolism?

[Trippy]

Hmmm, I drink large amounts of water all the time, and I've never suffered from any of the early signs of water intoxication. How do metabolic rates factor into this, because I have a very high metabolism?

It's not the water by itself that's the problem, it's the electrolyte imbalance. Water will travel through a permable membrane (like your cell walls) from a region of lower electrolytes to one of higher electrolytes. At "balance" water will flow into and out of your cells as needed. Too much water without an commensurate increases in electrolytes can cause water to flow excessively into your cells, swelling them and when that happens to your brain cells you get that "water intoxication" effect. This is why endurance athletes are especially vulnerable. They will lose electrolytes through their sweat but if they are just drinking water to hydrate themselves the balance can get thrown off if they aren't somehow replacing those electrolytes.

[Calantus]

I remember hearing a mother talk about how her daughter died of ecstacy due to her brain swelling after drinking too much water. Looking it up, ecstasy affects how your body metabolises water, and ecstasy is also often taken when people are at raves dancing with tonnes of people in not enough space. So you're in a situation where you want to drink a lot of water, your body is losing electrolites through sweat, and your body is not processing water properly anymore. Nasty.

[Strazos]

Hmmm, I drink large amounts of water all the time, and I've never suffered from any of the early signs of water intoxication. How do metabolic rates factor into this, because I have a very high metabolism?

It's not the water by itself that's the problem, it's the electrolyte imbalance. Water will travel through a permable membrane (like your cell walls) from a region of lower electrolytes to one of higher electrolytes. At "balance" water will flow into and out of your cells as needed. Too much water without an commensurate increases in electrolytes can cause water to flow excessively into your cells, swelling them and when that happens to your brain cells you get that "water intoxication" effect. This is why endurance athletes are especially vulnerable. They will lose electrolytes through their sweat but if they are just drinking water to hydrate themselves the balance can get thrown off if they aren't somehow replacing those electrolytes.

I understand that, but what I am saying is that, at times, I myself drink lots of water. Within a short period of time. I've probably downed at least half a gallon of water within an hour easily, while playing hockey.

[Trippy]

Hmmm, I drink large amounts of water all the time, and I've never suffered from any of the early signs of water intoxication. How do metabolic rates factor into this, because I have a very high metabolism?

It's not the water by itself that's the problem, it's the electrolyte imbalance. Water will travel through a permable membrane (like your cell walls) from a region of lower electrolytes to one of higher electrolytes. At "balance" water will flow into and out of your cells as needed. Too much water without an commensurate increases in electrolytes can cause water to flow excessively into your cells, swelling them and when that happens to your brain cells you get that "water intoxication" effect. This is why endurance athletes are especially vulnerable. They will lose electrolytes through their sweat but if they are just drinking water to hydrate themselves the balance can get thrown off if they aren't somehow replacing those electrolytes.

I understand that, but what I am saying is that, at times, I myself drink lots of water. Within a short period of time. I've probably downed at least half a gallon of water within an hour easily, while playing hockey.

And? Unless you are doing something extreme, your kidneys can handle regulating your electrolyte balance on their own. This is why for normal healthy people you don't have to worry about exactly how much water you are consuming in relation to the sodium, potassium, calcium, etc. you are ingesting. And exercise typically doesn't fall under the extreme category since your ancient ancestors presumably did a lot more of it than you do and they had a much more irregular diet and yet somehow they managed to not kill themselves by drinking too much water. In other words there aren't tens or hundreds of healthy people falling over dead in this country every day from drinking too much water or not eating enough salt because our kidneys have evolved to handle that problem. So stop worrying about it. But if you really want to be that paranoid drink a sports drink like Gatorade while exercising.

[angry.bob]

And since you're exercising, you're presumably sweating - which can eliminate almost/about a third of a gallon of water. Between that and what your kidneys will process you stay below the threshhold of electrolyte dilution that would cause a problem. So lets pretend the sodium level in your blood started out at the simplistic, imaginary rating of 5. You drink a half gallon of water and it's enough to dilute it by 4. However, you've also sweat enough to concentrate it by 2, and your kidneys are able to process enough water to reduce it by another one. So you end up with a sodium level of 4. Lower than normal, but not enough to cause trouble. If it was a real sports drink designed to replace electrolytes, you'd end up with about what you started with.

Now if you had been sitting in an air-conditioned radio studio or frat basement with no sweat to help offset the water intake, it probably would have turned out differently. Start with 5, dilute by 4, and kidneys handle 1. This time you've got a level of 2, which is enough to cause light headedness, nausea, headache, etc -  or even edema, seizures, coma, and/or death.

And just like alcohol, if you've got water in your system left, the process keeps going. From what I understand, once the mild symptoms start to manifest it goes south pretty quickly as the water that's left in your stomach keeps filtering in.

Maybe Nebu or someone with a more specific understanding of how the process of such things can explain it better. Or at least make sure I don't misunderstand what's going on.

[Paelos]

Basically you'd have to drink about .8 gallons in an hour for this to even come up, and you'd have to be in a cool room, not sweating, at rest, and probably haven't eaten in a while.

Let's not shortsell how much water that is exactly. That's like drinking 8.5 cans of Coke in one sitting. It's an absurd amount of liquid.

[WayAbvPar]

That's like drinking 8.5 cans of Coke in one sitting. It's an absurd amount of liquid.

Of soda, maybe. I have consumed 4 times as many beers in a day back in my misspent wellspent youth.

[Paelos]

That's like drinking 8.5 cans of Coke in one sitting. It's an absurd amount of liquid.

Of soda, maybe. I have consumed 4 times as many beers in a day back in my misspent wellspent youth.

I new someone would mention it, and beers aren't the same. Mainly it ups your pissing rate and keeps fluid constantly running out of your body. We're also talking about a "sitting" as one hour. I don't know anybody who can drink 9 beers in an hour, not piss, not throw up, and not die of alcohol posioning.

[WayAbvPar]

I would be willing to bet I could do that pretty easily, even at my advanced age. It wouldn't be easy, and I would probably be pretty happy at the end of it, but it is doable. Especially with light beer. Something heavier and more alcoholic would be far more difficult and might inducing some technicolor yawning.

[Mortriden]

I would be willing to bet I could do that pretty easily, even at my advanced age. It wouldn't be easy, and I would probably be pretty happy at the end of it, but it is doable. Especially with light beer. Something heavier and more alcoholic would be far more difficult and might inducing some technicolor yawning.

Way... you might want to reread the first two sentences you got there.   

[Murgos]

Way is special.  He is allowed to have two definitions for the word easy.

[Samwise]

The logic lizard is displeased.

[Strazos]

Also, trying to accomplish this with light beer might defeat the purpose.

[WayAbvPar]

I would be willing to bet I could do that pretty easily, even at my advanced age. It wouldn't be easy, and I would probably be pretty happy at the end of it, but it is doable. Especially with light beer. Something heavier and more alcoholic would be far more difficult and might inducing some technicolor yawning.

Way... you might want to reread the first two sentences you got there.   

Pretty easily, but not EASY.

I plead lack of sleep and coffee. And overabundance of past drinking and rapidly advancing age.


Just stay the fuck off my lawn when I am 30 beers to the wind, youngsters!

[lamaros]

Just stay the fuck off my lawn when I am 30 beers to the wind, youngsters!

Light beers?

[WayAbvPar]

Of course! They give me more ammo to go out and mark my territory.

[HaemishM]

I finally heard the audio during this contest, and let me tell you, these DJ's are toast in a jury trial. They said the whole danger of being killed by water poisoning was ok because the contestants signed a fucking release. They are laughing about it. A jury is going to hang them over their jocularity.