Water Intoxication

[Winnow]

I never understood eating and drinking contests. They basically consist of making yourself sick and stressing your body. It was a poor choice for a contest by the radio station.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/13/water. ... index.html

Woman drinks so much water she dies

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- 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.

"She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad," said Laura Rios, one of Strange's co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. "She was crying, and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."

It was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed.

A preliminary investigation found evidence "consistent with a water intoxication death," said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento, the station's owner, said station personnel were stunned when they heard of Strange's death.

"We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred," he said.

Initially, contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

"They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow contestant James Ybarra of Woodland. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk."

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore," he added.

After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

"I was talking to her and she was a nice lady," Ybarra said. "She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids."

[Trias]

give this lady a darwin award!

[Truant]

Hyponatremia is some serious shit.

They had to educate us about this when we did the 3 day breast cancer walk. Very simply, your cells absorb so much water that they swell and cease to function. Your organs start shutting down, and you die. It also happens VERY quickly after you begin showing symptoms.

For those of you that are runners or active. The trick to staying hydrated, but not overhydrating. Is to alternate between water and a sportsdrink, as the electrolytes are replinished by the sports drink instead of constantly diluted by water.

[Markulas]

Everyone involved in the story needs to be taught some basic biology.

Now, do you think there will be a lawsuit out of this? You bet your lucky stars there will be!

[kyoukan]

I don't think that this qualifies as darwin. I don't think it is common knowledge that if you drink too much water you will die. I knew that you could drink too much and get sick because of it, but I figured your body would start vomiting it out long before it would become fatal.

I hope that lady's kids at least got their Wii.

[vn_Tanc]

Sounds similar to the Leah Betts death in the UK some years back that was blown up as a "OMG ECSTASY KILLS" story. Yeah she took some E but the helpful government advice at the time was to drink lots of water while on E. This was based on you being in a sweaty club ripped to the tits and dancing for 14 hours. Instead she sat at home at her birthday party and drank something like 14 litres of water over a few hours. This dilutes your blood salt to a dangerously low level which causes your brain to swell. This then leads to comething called "coring": Your swollen brain pushes down on the brain stem, crushing it into the spinal column and leading to an inevitable, slow, agonizing death.

[Asheran Mojomaster]

Yeah, a friend of mine got close to that point once trying to get clean for a drug test. I told him that it was pointless (THC isnt water soluble anyway), but he was turning up gallons. He actually got really high from it and then stopped...from what I've heard that is the stage before it gets serious and you start dying.

[Funkmasterr]

I had to go to a urinalysis at the Mall of America when I started working for Sears a long time ago. I had drank plenty of water (not to clean my system, just to ensure I would piss) and I couldn't fucking pee, it was terrible. I went out of the bathroom for like 15 minutes and just kept drinking water and still nothing, I absolutely couldn't go. Towards the end of that last 15 minutes I began to feel drunk, and thats when I called it quits and re scheduled.

Of course when I got back home I pissed for about 3 or 4 minutes straight, then I went and passed out cause I didn't feel well. There is no way I could have kept drinking water at that point - it was all too obvious something was not right.

[Akanae]

looks like some heads are rolling at the radio station for this http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/108566.html. I hope her family gets some compensation.

[kyoukan]

why should her family get compensated? nobody forced her to do anything.

[Akanae]

While I don't think they should get a billion dollar law suit I do think that the radio station should shoulder some of the blame. Especially considering the reports that several people called into the show during the contest warning the DJs of the danger (which they laughed off). Also it's my understanding that if they had just used some water with electrolytes added this wouldn't have happened.

[Asheran Mojomaster]

At least they werent drinking distilled water, lol.

[Funkmasterr]

While I don't think they should get a billion dollar law suit I do think that the radio station should shoulder some of the blame. Especially considering the reports that several people called into the show during the contest warning the DJs of the danger (which they laughed off). Also it's my understanding that if they had just used some water with electrolytes added this wouldn't have happened.

I strongly disagree with you here. These contests go on at all the pop radio stations around the country fairly regularly and have been for a long time. Every case I have heard of with this the person started to feel really off (bad, drunk, whatever) well before they died. This lady should have known something was wrong and quit, people are way too quick to throw blame nowadays.

[cadalano]

While I don't think they should get a billion dollar law suit I do think that the radio station should shoulder some of the blame. Especially considering the reports that several people called into the show during the contest warning the DJs of the danger (which they laughed off). Also it's my understanding that if they had just used some water with electrolytes added this wouldn't have happened.

I strongly disagree with you here. These contests go on at all the pop radio stations around the country fairly regularly and have been for a long time. Every case I have heard of with this the person started to feel really off (bad, drunk, whatever) well before they died. This lady should have known something was wrong and quit, people are way too quick to throw blame nowadays.

You can't expect the average person to know what water intoxication is, or that their headache might very rapidly lead to unconciouness and death. Thats precisely why water intoxication is dangerous. This woman would have been feeling these symptoms long after she had consumed enough water to harm or kill herself, and who knows if she even had the slightest clue what was wrong with her? Its naive to expect this woman to know any of this, and if the radio show DID expect it of their contestants.. then they deserve the worst.

However, its obvious that the radio show did not expect the contestants to know any of that, because they were just as clueless themselves. Having them drink something with electrolytes probably would have saved her life. Its anyone's guess.. but it doesn't really matter how easy or hard it would have been to prevent her death. What matters is that no danger was anticipated, and it should have been

Random people doing radio contests cant be expected to know the dangers involved with these contests. Are radio shows expected to know the dangers?

Personally I have never heard of a water drinking contest that wasnt a news story about a frat initiation gone tragic.. of which I have read about several. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but its naive to think that because no one has died before that no one was ever in any danger. At any rate, I'm sure they will be a pretty scarce event now.

[Funkmasterr]

I am going to have to agree to disagree. On the note of them happening in the past, the hip hop/r&b radio station locally here B96 has had at least one or two of these a year for as long as they have been around, and no one participating in them has died.

Edit: On second thought, like I said when this happened to me I felt really drunk and like shit in general and just immediately called it quits then, and I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything. I think it should be common sense that if this starts happening you should probably stop... then again maybe that doesn't happen in every case, or maybe its more rapid.. I guess I don't know that much about it.

[Aslanna]

Last night a chilling extract from the radio show appeared on the Sacramento Bee website. During the early stages of the contest one host joked about people dying after drinking too much water. One listener called Eva rang in to warn the station that contestants could die due to water intoxication. A host replied: "We're aware of that". Another then said: "They signed releases, so we're not responsible. It's OK".

As the competition came to a close Ms Strange complained her head was hurting. "They keep telling me though that it's the water, that it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke," she said.

Obviously (some of) the hosts knew of the dangers. Yet they didn't do anything to prevent it. To me that means they share the majority of the blame. Especially if it wasn't mentioned in the releases they signed. I don't know if it was or not as the article doesn't say. The poor woman was just trying to get something for her kids. I personally have heard of water intoxication but I never knew you could die from it.

I find it irresponsible that they even held the contest knowing the dangers. Release or no release.

(Might have been in link Akanae posted but it doesn't work for me at this time)

[Winnow]

So basically the contest was to see who could come closest to death without knowing exactly how much water would kill them.

What separates this contest from another one where people are slowly choked and the winner is the one that lasts the longest without dying? All OK as long as they have release forms?

[Aslanna]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164487.ht ... id=6164487

I think we saw this coming... I doubt Nintendo has any part in this other than supplying a Wii but I doubt they even did that.

In another twist to the tragic tale, attorney Roger Dreyer will be representing the family of Jennifer Strange, a mother of three who died after taking part in a KDND 107.9 competition titled "Hold Your Wee for a Wii," reports The Sacramento Bee. Dreyer told reporters that the disc jockeys and radio employees that were responsible for the competition would be named in the suit and that Nintendo may also be named if it is found that the company had any role in the promotion.

Strange drank an estimated two gallons of water during the contest, which had the 20 people taking part drinking as much as possible without using the bathroom. The first prize was a Nintendo Wii console, which Strange had been trying to win for her children. However, after the show, the 28-year-old called in sick to work, saying her head hurt "really bad," and she was later found dead in her suburban home.

The coroner's initial report found that her death appeared to be consistent with water intoxication. Drinking excess amounts of water causes the problem of too little sodium in the body (hyponatremia) and can cause swelling of the brain, vomiting, headaches, seizures, coma, and, in extreme cases, death.

Ten employees of the radio show have already been fired, and after listening to audio tapes of the show--in which DJs disregarded a caller warning of the danger involved and dismissed the death of student Matthew Carrington of water intoxication in a fraternity hazing ritual in 2005--Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness opened a criminal investigation into the woman's death.

Dreyer told reporters, "Everything that we've found in our research indicates that they just didn't pay attention to...the potential consequence of this contest."

[Winnow]

Didn't feel like starting another thread but here's another intoxication death.

97 pound body + 5 glasses of Vodka = death

4 charged with negligent homicide in runaway's death

The Arizona Republic

Mar. 2, 2007 12:00 AM

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced charges on Thursday against the four adults believed to be involved the death of 13-year-old Brenda Nguyen.

Clayton Koepke, 18; his friend Armando Hernandez, 18; Hernandez's mother, Ana Hernandez, 44; and her boyfriend, Scott Franze, 38, have been charged with child abuse and negligent homicide, both felonies.

Armando Hernandez and Koepke also face the felony charge of abandonment of a dead body.

If convicted on all accounts, each could be sentenced to 30 years or more in prison.

On Feb. 18, Brenda, a 97-pound eighth-grader, was urged by the suspects to drink five glasses of vodka in less than 30 minutes so that Koepke could have sex with her, according to police documents.

When Brenda fell unconscious, suffered seizures and gasped for air, Koepke and the three others never called for help, documents indicate.

Brenda's body was found Feb. 19 and went unidentified for nearly a week.

[Al]

We need to bring back public executions.... Fuck, mom looks like she would know what 5 glasses of vodka would do to a person, let alone someone who doesn't even weigh 100 pounds. What a waste life, on all sides.

[Aslanna]

No criminal charges will be filed following the death of a woman who took part in a radio station water-drinking contest in January, the Sacramento County district attorney said Monday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, died Jan. 12 after drinking nearly two gallons of water in a competition sponsored by 107.9 The End. Contestants were vying for a Nintendo Wii video game system.

[Aslanna]

Jury awards $16 million to family in fatal radio prank
October 29, 2009 | 4:49 pm

A Sacramento jury today awarded $16 million to the family of a woman who died during a 2007 radio station contest gone awry.

The Sacramento County Superior Court jury concluded that Entercom Sacramento, which operates KDND-FM (107.9) "The End," was negligent after ignoring several warnings that a morning show contest could have fatal consequences, according to KTXL-TV (Channel 40) in Sacramento.

Jennifer Strange, a mother of three from suburban Rancho Cordova, died of apparent water intoxication hours after a failed attempt to win a Nintendo Wii video game system for her children in a promotion dubbed "Hold Your Wee for a Wii."

A tape of the program, known as the "Morning Rave" on KDND, revealed that the potential fatal effects of drinking too much water were raised during the course of the contest, with one on-air host mentioning the 2005 death of a college student during a hazing ritual in Chico. A listener also called in to advise against the stunt.

Strange — one of 20 contestants — initially joked lightheartedly with the show hosts as she and the others chugged bottled water. But as the hours wore on, it came down to Strange and one other woman contending for the grand prize, and she admitted to having a splitting headache and feeling wobbly. Strange quipped on the air that "it looks like I'm pregnant again."

After finishing in second place, Strange rushed with contest winner Lucy Davidson to the station's bathroom to vomit. Strange called her employer to say she was too sick to come in and headed home. Her mother discovered her body that afternoon.

[Updated at 5:31 p.m.: Charles Sipkins, a spokesman for Entercom, said in a statement: “Jennifer Strange’s death was a tragedy. Our hearts go out to all of her loved ones, including, in particular, her husband and children. While legal restrictions preclude us from commenting further on the verdict, we respect the jury’s decision and hope that it will assist the Strange family in coping with its loss.”]

—Shelby Grad

[Fairweather Pure]

Nice follow up!

[Bubba Grizz]

I guess now they can buy a Wii.

[Aslanna]

But not a new mother.

[Xouqoa]

But not a new mother.

I dunno, I don't think there is much you CAN'T buy with $16m. I bet they could hire somebody to be their mother.

[Winnow]

The best would be if she was a bad mother and the kids ended up with 16M. Although it was a Wii and not a 360, she's probably still a pretty good mother for doing that unless it was for herself.

[Xyun]

I wonder which side wouldn't settle out of court that it had to go to jury.