Is a Wii worth dying for?
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
Canada
January 14, 2007 9:33am CST
From the news today:
"A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner's office said Saturday.
Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner."
(source: http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/woman-dies-after-water-drinking-contest/20070114070709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001)
Apparently the radio station's personnel were stunned when they found out the woman had died. They had given the contestants 8 1-oz bottles to drink every 15 minutes. After at least one contestant dropped out, they were given even bigger bottles.
It says in the article that the woman told a coworker that, on her way home, her head was hurting really bad. She was crying. No one heard from her after that.
She had three kids and wanted to win a Wii game system for them.
3 people like this
6 responses
@western_valleygirl (1363)
• United States
20 Jan 07
That is just too terrible. I cannot believe that it actually happened. I did know of water intoxication, but I am trying to understand the magnitude of water that they drank, because I always thought that it would have to be a whole lot, for someone to actually die from. It is just unbelievable. This is going to become a crazy case, and it will serve as a warning for future competitions. In fact, I would not be surprised if certain states pass laws in the future to prevent this in the future. For sure, the radio stations are going to be more careful.
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
20 Jan 07
I wouldn't be surprised, either, to see laws developed for this which sort of mirror the laws against hazing that already exist in some places. I was reading one website which says that, in states with hazing laws, "consent of the victim can't be used as a defense in a civil suit."
If laws were to be/are in place for something like that radio promotion, they might not be able to use the act of signing a release as a defense either. Remains to be seen what kind of legislation might result!
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
19 Jan 07
Oh my gosh :( I am certain that the radio station itself never even considered this happening, or they would never have held the competition. I didn't even know that it was possible to die from drinking too much water :( That is really, really sad. I think that her family should be given a huge amount of compensation and her kids should each be given a WII, not that it is going to comfort them in the time of losing their mother :( Anyway, no. No material possession in the world is worth dying for. Dying to save someone whom you love is one of the few things that I see as worth dying for. Certainly not dying for a game system. Not that this poor woman had any idea that she was in danger by entering this contest :(
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
19 Jan 07
Even my daughter asked me today, "Why didn't they have a doctor there in case anything went wrong, Mom? Don't they always do that when they have like pie eating or hot dog eating contests and stuff, in case someone chokes or gets sick??" She's 16. She reads a LOT and keeps up on current events... and she's right. For any "contest" like that where you're asking people to consume something, for example, shouldn't they take every precaution??? But, again, everyone seemed to think "it was JUST water." Many people are learning a great deal from this awful, awful situation.
I went through a phase, before I remarried, where I was quite depressed and not eating. All I did was drink water. One day, I kept drinking bottle after bottle and then started to feel VERY nauseous and felt like I wouldn't be able to keep down another drop. People laughed at me for saying water was making me sick... but I guess it DID. It's scary to think what something so apparently harmless could really do.
Like you, shywolf, I'd hope to see a great deal of compensation in this case... and FAST.
@marmo1020 (467)
• United States
18 Jan 07
I remeber hearing about that. I bet the radio station feels so bad. You never think something like that could happen. I guess radio stations need to check and make sure these things are safe before conducting them.
1 person likes this
@BittyBiddy (2903)
• Ireland
18 Jan 07
I think the radio station were completely irresponsible in holding this competition. It's the most ridiculous thing I've every heard of. It's a well known fact that "holding" your waste products like that can have detrimental effects to your health. Obviously there were no doctors consulted before running this competition.
I feel extremely sorry for her family and children. It's a dreadful thing to happen.
1 person likes this
@sweetlady10 (3611)
• United States
14 Jan 07
This is very sad. May be she never think that she can die of that. How someone can go to that extant to win a WII game system!
1 person likes this
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
14 Jan 07
It really IS sad, sweetlady... I doubt the radio station would have ever considered that someone could actually DIE. I'm sure they felt water was perfectly safe and harmless. And, when the Wii came out, lots of people made jokes about "standing in line for a Wii/wee" and such that I'm sure the promotional idea seemed like good fun.
@babystar1 (4233)
• United States
20 Jan 07
I seen this on the news, this is very sad for this to happen. I never thought that you can die from drinking to much water.I feel so sorry for the family Something like this should of never happened.
