Prophetic slogan!
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.
Who is dumber? The nutcases who think up a contest like this — or the sad fools who take part?
#30, Dave,
So why is the station responsible? She participated voluntarily.
Why would the onus be on the station to regulate her health? She is and should be responsible for her own dietary needs including an adequate salt (sodium) intake.
So many people on this topic have said they didn’t know this could happen. So why should the station have known?
The next time Toyota builds a car that can go 100 MPH and someone gets killed going that fast, is Toyota to blame? What about if the car is a rental or even a loaner?
What if the station held a picnic in the park and a tornado / hailstorm / frost / meteor / other act of god killed someone? Can you blame the station for picking that specific day?
Why is there so many people that refuse to accept personal responsibility for a voluntary act yet when a woman gets raped they want to blame the victim? (see past DU topics) I think you will find that a person is responsible for their own voluntary actions. The same principle that would exonerate the station if a marathon runner died would govern here.
#31, or post right here how “dumb” people are that want to send an email to the station telling them how dumb the station is. Gregg, how stupid can you get. This was an unintentional act and the people at the station are already feeling like crap. What on earth would an email to the station do?
Effen idiotic response to a tragedy.
#32. concur. this woman caused her own death. maybe she did not know that she could essentially drown herself by drinking too much water, but she was deliberately abusing her body to win a prize.
let me add one more – what if they have an eating contest and one participant chokes to death? radio station’s fault?
Hey Fusion. What happened to you man. Did you fall face first into a hardback edition of Atlas Shrugged?
The debate here ain’t nothing but academic… a court will hold the station responsible… but you asked…
So many people on this topic have said they didn’t know this could happen. So why should the station have known?
Because the station held the contest and had a responsibility to understand what the potential risks were. We all know driving too fast increases our risk of death in a collision. We all know that sticking out hand into a garbage disposal increases out risk of getting mutilated. We don’t know that drinking a lot of water can kill us… And the station didn’t either… but the created a stupid contest based on drinking a fuckton of water and apparently failed to consult, I don’t know… a doctor?
But who cares… I do genuinely feel the station needs to be held responsible for this… But I also feel they need to be smacked upside the skull just for polluting our culture with the moronic and juvenile crap they fill the airwaves with. The pathetic chucklefuck Bob and Tomming of radio is doing as much to kill whatever used to be good about our culture as letting Clearchannel decide which 40 corporate committee written crapfest songs we are all supposed to like.
So why defend these sell outs? We stand up for the company? Would they stand up for you? Do they care about you? Even if I didn’t think they were responsible, I’d still jump at the chance to attack the beast.
Maybe if the Ramones had got more airplay in the 70s I’d feel different.
#35 – OFTLO:
Bravo!
On the station’s liability – exactly!
On megacorporate lowest-common-denominator radio – It’s comforting to know I’m not the only one who finds something totally fucked about listening to alleged adults spewing out pathetically juvenile “humor” that I wouldn’t’ve found funny when I was 12…
And y’know, it may be sad that they pollute the public airwaves with their imbecilic shit, but far sadder is the number of brain-rotted twentysomethings who actually listen to childish smut… it’s pathetic.
And pushing the vile nonmusical culture-free abomination known as ‘rap’ and ‘hip-hop’ – well, just don’t get me started. Brainwashing the minds of middle America’s youth with a primitive celebration of a violent worthless so-called “culture” is a crime, or should be.
#35 & 36
(Busting my gut laughing)
OK, if that is your legal argument I’m sold. Lauren, you convinced me that the station is liable because they rotted her brain to the point she didn’t have free will.
PS, Lauren, I apologize for misspelling your name a few posts back. It was unintentional.
#37:
“Lauren, you convinced me that the station is liable because they rotted her brain to the point she didn’t have free will.”
I think it’s more like, as it has been explained at least a dozen times in this thread, people generally do not know about water intoxication and the fact that drinking too much water without urinating can be fatal.
But, I guess, in your mind, everyone should just know everything already. Like you.
UPDATE
Those of you doubting the station’s liability should know things have gotten a little trickier:
Sacramento homicide detectives are now investigating the girl’s death. It seems they now have a tape of the Morning Rave show which features the jocks joking about the possibliity of ODing on water. They referred to a college kid a couple of years ago who died from the same stunt.
Then a listener called the show and told the DJs the stunt was dangerous and that someone could die. One of ’em responded, “Yeah, we’re aware of that.”
Would anyone like to recalculate their estimate of the station’s liability NOW?
One of the DJs raised the possibility of “ODing on water” and one of the other DJs said something like, “OD on water? Come on…you’re body’s already, like, 98 percent water! How could you OD on it?!?”
4zmY7H Cool, bro!