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.'"

Mmm...

[EinZweiDrei (955497)]

What a stupid world.

Re:Mmm...

[x2A (858210)]

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...

[by Anonymous Coward]

No, but got pissed instead.

Killed??

[celardore (844933)]

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 (1006365)]

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 (735423)]

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

Re:Killed??

[theGil (1010409)]

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

Re:Killed??

[celardore (844933)]

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 [wikipedia.org], 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??

[s20451 (410424)]

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

Right, so the hell with exercise.

Re:Killed??

[Iamthefallen (523816)]

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.

sheesh

[yagu (721525)]

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 [google.com]
• another [google.com]
• another [google.com]
• answers.com [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

[yagu (721525)]

My point is/was that to the casual observer (and contestant), signing a waiver and being "warned" (I didn't see anything in the article to suggest they warned how dangerous this was) would seem a mere "standard" formality and for the purposes of participating in a water-drinking contest, absurd. But, the radio station, as I pointed out, with minimal research should have known going in this was dangerous and not even hosted this contest.

The only difference I see between this and a contest where contestants drink as much alcohol as possible to win a Wii is that to the common man, dangers and risks associated with alcohol are much more widely known and understood. And, no radio station in the world would get away with having contestants drink alcohol in a similar fashion, waivers and warnings or not.

Re:sheesh

[bloodstar (866306)]

The radio station is the one holding the contest. Drinking too much water is a non obvious danger. But the radio station is the one who should perform the due dilligance.

Just because we happen to know that water can be dangerous doesn't mean other people do. And certainly expecting a mother of 3 doing a 'contest' that sounds like something fun and silly to expect any danger from the contest is unreasonable.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that generally people, rightly or wrongly, Trust people in charge. Think of the Milgram Experiment as an extreme example. Even though the objectives of the experiment are different, it shows the same underlying principle: people generally listen to people they think are athority figures. And in this case, the contest holders are the athority figures.

Beyond the lawsuit, I would not be shocked to see criminal charges against the people who ran the contest. Their actions directly led to the death of another person.

As God is my witness...

[RobertB-DC (622190)]

... I thought turkeys could fly. [about.com]

In other news...

[meta-monkey (321000)]

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

isotonic drink ...

[AtomicBomb (173897)]

Before calling the poor woman a lemming/ a candidate for Darwin's award blahblahblah, I got to ask why can't they (the organisers) supply isotonic sports drink in this sort of competition?

Water intoxication is more common than many of us would like to think. It is part of the reason why many marathons now supply sports drink in addition to water. Newbies in many cases either don't drink enough or cannot stop drinking until water drains them from the inside.

Her family

[inKubus (199753)]

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".

Dangerous!

[Aladrin (926209)]

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

http://www.dhmo.org/ [dhmo.org]

This problem can be solved with legislation

[PingSpike (947548)]

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 (681985)]

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 [wikipedia.org]:

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:Call the Darwin awards

[dewie (685736)]

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 (568564)]

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

Re:Man, even water can kill you!

[x2A (858210)]

Here in UK there've been a few "ecstacy deaths", last a few years ago, that turned out not to be the ecstacy as such, but drinking too much water to avoid dehydration and overcompensating. You need to replace your body salts when drinking, or they get flushed out, and organs will fail.

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.

Re:Man, even water can kill you!

[Pojut (1027544)]

This is why they reccommend when you have a fever you drink Gatorade or some other sport drink...because these help keep your electrolytes high, the chances of your dying from (or being affected by) over-hydration are reduced drastically

Re:Man, even water can kill you!

[R3d M3rcury (871886)]

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 [dhmo.org] before it's too late!