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.

Sherrod said she had no idea what risk she had taken until she saw news of Strange’s death.

MiamiHerald.com

Maybe we should just view this from a utilitarian elitist position and outright ban consumption of the treacherous substance.

Final verdict: stupid on both sides. Now let the lawsuits file…

What’s the next Wii contest? Hyperventilation? Let’s make it interesting. You have to be driving a schoolbus full of children. /sarcasm

I’m not sure if she would have medical knowledge of this; being a secretary is a lot different from being a medical assistant. She probably never did more then answer phones and make appointments (speculation).

Wee for Wii – classic Americana for the 21st century.

No matter what’s said – it’s good for business and Nintendo will sell thousands more just for this free publicity.

Emmett J. on January 15, 2007 at 8:26 PM

Nothing could make me buy their crappy product.

A medical secretary dying, due to a water overdose, is worthy of a Darwin award.

Electrolytes need to be replaced and I expect she should have known that.

The radio station should have known that as well.

It was stupid for them to pull this without making sure electrolytes were given.

No matter what’s said – it’s good for business and Nintendo will sell thousands more just for this free publicity.

It is very unlikely that they were any more aware of the dangers of drinking too much water too fast than their adult contestants.

Probably true, and thus grounds for a wrongful death suit. Notice I didn’t say murder or manslaughter. I said wrongful death. Not being aware of the potential dangers of their contest is negligence on their part. Definition, via Wikipedia, of wrongful death:

The death must have been caused, in whole or in part, by the defendant’s conduct, even though there was no direct intention to kill the victim. The defendant must have been deemed negligent or strictly liable for the victim’s death. Also the deceased has dependent party such as family members who have suffered from emotional and monetary damages as a result of the death.

This is not hot coffee in the lap. It’s a sophomoric stunt on the part of a radio station, made without any regard to its contestants’ well-being, and is in some ways far worse than a fraternity hazing death, as it involves a nominally responsible party.

All jokes about Darwinism aside, this radio station deserves to be punished for their negligence.

Not the first person to die from water intoxication, probably not the last. The last time I remember hearing about it was part of a frat initiation. Maybe the “mother of three children” aspect will get enough press to educate some people.

bdfaith on January 15, 2007 at 5:21 PM

“bdfaith,”

I remember a news item from a few years ago in which a female flight attendant (stewardess) for an airline company was to report for a drug screening.

She was to give a urine sample, but she was having difficulty producing urine for the sample, so she drank water, and drank, and drank, until she began to become light headed and dizzy. She also suffered from the effects of drinking too much water.

Maybe with these cases the rest of the decent, non-drug using public can finally stop these pesky drug screenings which treat innocent, non-drug using citizens as suspected drug users, just like the screening at the airport treats non-Muslim Jihadis as suspected, potential Jihadi mass murderer, homicidal maniac terrorists, while giving special care to actual Muslims so as not to appear to be profiling or engaging in religious discrimination, Islamophobia, bigotry, etc.

Regarding Islamic Jihadis, you’re not really paranoid, or Islamophobic, or bigoted, or engaging in religious discrimination in being concerned about Jihadi homicidal thugs and the danger the present. They really ARE out to get you!

William

That is a SICK coincidence.

And she is characterized as “intelligent”????

O—–K.

First and foremost, the contestant was an adult who was not forced to do this.

Secondly the radio station probably chose water drinking as a funny alternative to a lot of the more dangerous things people have done for prizes over the years (the lengths people will go to for a pair of super bowl tickets are outrageous). It is very unlikely that they were any more aware of the dangers of drinking too much water too fast than their adult contestants. In fact, there are plenty of eating contests that never have fatalities (Nathan’s hot dogs, for instance) — it’s entirely understandable that they would assume that a water rinking contest was equally innocent.

What will the hive do now?

The Sacramento collective’s IQ just went up by…I don’t know….a third of a hundreth of a point???

I had too much of a trigger finger to notice my typing-spelling error. Let’s try this again, with the corrections.

With apologies,

William

The taxi driver said to the French woman, just off the airline from France, “Where to, lady?”

“Hotel,” said the lady in her French accent.

“Which hotel, lady” asked the taxi driver.

“How you say, Waldorf Estonia?” replied the woman.

“You mean the Waldorf Astoria, don’t you, lady?” asked the taxi driver.

“Wee, wee” said the French woman.

“Not in my cab you don’t, lady,” replied the taxi driver as he quickly pulled to the curb and commanded the ladi French woman exist exit the cab.

William

William2006 on January 15, 2007 at 5:21 PM

“Hotel,” said the lady in her French accent.

“Which hotel, lady” asked the taxi driver.

“How you say, Waldorf Estonia?” replied the woman.

“You mean the Waldorf Astoria, don’t you, lady?” asked the taxi driver.

“Wee, wee” said the French woman.

“Not in my cab you don’t, lady,” replied the taxi driver as he quickly pulled to the curb and commanded the ladi exist the cab.

William