Woman Dies of Water Intoxication

[Daisy and Delilah]

I don't know about anyone else but I am really saddened by this story. Not only is it tragic, it's turning into a possible legal battle. No surprise there.

Sorry I don't have the link for it but I was wondering if anybody can enlighten me more on exactly how this woman died from drinking the water. The story really intrigues me. More than anything, I would like to hear how others feel about it.

[Karen]

I think the whole contest idea was completely idiotic. People can die from drinking too much water, and the contest organizers knew that. It is not clear if the people participating in the contest were told that, and whether the woman knew it, or whether participants had to sign a release form, never mind if there was a physician there to monitor the participants.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-water-poisoning.htm is a good basic guide to what water poisoning is.

It was a stupid, stupid, cruel and dangerous idea.

[lvpets2002]

:) MMmmm I have not read about this yet.. However like the article of water intoxication that can happen is over-in-dulged..

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks Karen. I am sorry to say that I am pretty ignorant when it comes to being educated about this. When I first heard it, I was blown away. I had heard of death due to drinking alcohol to excess but not water.

I heard the recording of her calling into the radio station, during the contest, on CNN today and the DJ's joking about it. All I can say is, can we say gigantic lawsuit? They also said 10 radio station employees had been fired over it. No surprise there either :(

[lizbud]

It is a sad thing for sure. They had a session about this last night on
Larrry King.They talked to the woman who drank just a little bit less and
came in 2nd in the contest.I think I always knew it was possible to die
from too much water, but didn't know how it worked within the body.

I do hope that radio station & the others responsible are sued for all they're
worth. Stupid, stupid idea.

[RICHARD]

It happened in Sacramento, CA.

Water intox happens often in marathons and long distance physical competitions.

10 people were fired from the station.

---------------------

Sad but it shows what stupidity along with stupidity does.

[Daisy and Delilah]

What type of endorsement would the radio station have to get from their upper management to hold such a dangerous contest? How could their employers(or anyone else for that matter) allow this to happen? Surely, someone there would have had enough sense to stop it before it actually happened.

Does anyone know how the contest was handled? Were the participants totally in their own homes on an honor system? How could this be monitored accurately?

Sorry for all the dumb questions. As anyone can tell, I just live in disbelief of this entire event.

[cassiesmom]

The contest was to see how much water the competitors could drink without needing to urinate. The bladder holds about 12-15 ounces of urine. I heard on the news this morning that the competitors were given 8 ounce bottles of water every 15 minutes by the radio station staff for the first couple of hours of the contest, and that the woman who died drank almost 2 gallons of water before she quit. They should have sent her straight from the radio station to the hospital. It sounds like she died from massive sodium, potassium and other electrolyte imbalances from all that water A nurse called the station to point out what a potentially risky idea the contest was, but was rebuffed by one of the hosts.

[K9soul]

This is so tragic and horrible :(. I can't believe they rebuffed the nurse that called in. The medical term for it is hyponatremia, the salt/potassium levels in your body get too diluted and cause the brain and heart to shut down. Here is a link that tells more about it:

http://www.geo-outdoors.info/hyponatremia.htm

[Daisy and Delilah]

Here is the original story for anyone that hasn't heard about it. Of course, more developments have taken place since this was reported. It is just incredibly sad. Even though she was suffering, she wanted this so badly for her kids, she continued to suffer until her death. :(



Woman drinks so much water she dies
POSTED: 10:33 p.m. EST, January 13, 2007
Story Highlights• Woman, 28, dies of water intoxication, assistant coroner says
• Radio contest required drinking large amounts, not voiding
• Victim was trying to win video game console for her children

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."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Chilli]

I've been hearing so much of this lately.
Its so sad for the woman and her family. :( :(
Though, I still find the contest to be so not worth it. Even more now that I learned that the radio station knew of water intoxication!

From everything I've heard from the cnn new channel, it sounds like some people at the radio station would just blow it off when someone would warn them of the water intoxication risk.

Positive thoughts headed out to the womans family and friends.. this is just so tragic. :(

[cyber-sibes]

That is sooo sad. I never heard of death by water till now either, it does surprise me. i feel especially bad for her 3 kids. What a way to lose your mom.

[areias]

I've heard about this too...it's ridiculous. I was in disbelief that a radio station would go that far. And you know what the name of the station was? The End. Geez...

[CathyBogart]

This was one stupid idea from the beginning. The morning show has been canceled, people are being fired, the lawsuit is not going to be successful....and it's all so pointless. I listened to some clips from the morning's show...comments like "couldn't you DIE from this?" from one DJ met with "Nah, they'll throw it up before it becomes serious", and the same thing said to a nurse who called in to warn them, telling them that she was not there participatin gbecause she didn't want to die.

From what I'm reading, the lawsuit will probably fail because she went in to the contest exercising free will, could have stopped whenever she wanted, and was aware that there were possible health risks.

So tragic. :(

[Pembroke_Corgi]

How horrible. I hope that radio station has to pay big time. It won't make up for hear death by any means, but they should be responsible.

[ramanth]

I had no clue you could die from drinking too much water. :eek: :( That poor woman's family.

How utterly tragic. :(

[Miss Z]

Oh my....what a stupid 'game'!

I was learning about this in biology just a few days back, how the dilution of the blood becomes too great and causes excess water to diffuse into the cells. Eventually the cells can't take it any more and they burst.

I feel very sorry for the woman's family and those that knew her. :(

[Cataholic]

I had no clue you could die from drinking too much water. :eek: :( That poor woman's family.

How utterly tragic. :(

Often I get my stories confused, but, wasn't there a military person that died of this while in the field training???

[Lady's Human]

There are FAR too many deaths from this in training.

[RICHARD]

The next time you see about a sports related death on a hot day check out the coaches and their comments...

"We took many water breaks."


They MAKE you drink water. Some times, too much water.


The old adage is that if "you feel thirsty, you are already in trouble"
People try to keep that from happening by forcing water breaks-
sometimes killing people. Pay attention to the autopsy report and 9 times out of 10 heart failure is the culprit. :eek:

[caseysmom]

This happened here where I live, it has been all over the news. This is just the stupidest thing they could have done.

[Jods]

I didn't know you could die from drinking to much water either... SAD :(

[Logan]

What a waste of life. :( The whole story, as it has unfolded, has made me so sad. I'm sad that this woman and the other participants were so desperate to win this silly game. I'm even sadder that the "hosts" of this game didn't research more and didn't heed the warnings they got.........they deserve to be fired, but I am so angry that I feel like their station needs to be taken off of the air.

What heartless, awful people, to react the way they did to the whole situation.

:(

[Giselle]

What a waste of life. :( The whole story, as it has unfolded, has made me so sad. I'm sad that this woman and the other participants were so desperate to win this silly game. I'm even sadder that the "hosts" of this fame didn't research more and didn't heed the warnings they got.........they deserve to be fired, but I am so angry that I feel like their station needs to be taken off of the air.

What heartless, awful people, to react the way they did to the whole situation.

:(
What's most upsetting is that this woman died in an attempt to please her children. My heart goes out to that mother and her family.

[Pam]

This woman's mother was on Larry King last night and I was amazed at her composure. All I can say is that she must have been heavily sedated. :( I had never heard of anyone dying from drinking too much water. This is heartbreaking because it just should have never happened. :(

[todd]

Seen that on the news

[cassiesmom]

Saw this in today's online Chicago Tribune:

Lawsuit: DJs Were Warned of Contest Risk

By JULIET WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer

January 26, 2007, 12:44 PM CST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Disc jockeys hosting an on-air water-drinking contest should have summoned medical help when a woman complained her head hurt and noted that her belly was so swollen she looked pregnant, said an attorney for a family suing for wrongful death.

Instead, "The talent verbally chastised and otherwise coerced her, exhorting her to remain in the contest by threatening that she would be disqualified if she 'puked,'" according to the lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of 28-year-old Jennifer Lea Strange's family.

The mother of three died Jan. 12, just hours after drinking as much as two gallons of water in the contest to win a video game console.

In the lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, the family claims the DJs on the "Morning Rave" program on KDND-FM knew of the potential dangers of drinking too much water, yet went ahead with the contest anyway.

"The talent admitted during the broadcast that they should have done more research once various participants, including (Strange), began to report medical symptoms," it said. "Such conduct was despicable and so vile, base or contemptible that it would be looked down upon and despised by reasonable people."

Strange was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by seeing how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. The DJs called the contest "Hold your Wee for a Wii."

"They keep telling me that it's the water. That it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke," Strange said, according to an audio tape of the show.

At one point during the contest, a listener who identified herself as a nurse called in to warn the disc jockeys that the stunt could be fatal.

"Yeah, we're aware of that," one of the DJs responded to the caller's warning, the lawsuit said.

Another DJ said with laugh: "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK."

The family claims Strange never signed a liability waiver. Instead, the form merely granted the station permission to use the contestants' names and photos for promotions, said the family's attorney, Roger Dreyer.

"I guarantee you if there was a waiver of liability they would have produced it," Dreyer said at a news conference.

The Sacramento-area station fired 10 employees after Strange's death.

The lawsuit names as defendants KDND's parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, as well as employees and managers who organized, promoted and participated in the contest.

The radio station would not comment directly about Thursday's lawsuit, Entercom spokesman Charles Sipkins said.

"We reiterate our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Strange family, but we do not comment on pending litigation," he said.

Sipkins said he did not know whether the DJs jockeys had retained their own attorneys.

After several hours of drinking water, Strange relented and accepted the second-place prize, tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. Her mother, Nina Hulst, found her dead several hours later at the family's home in Rancho Cordova, a Sacramento suburb.

"I want nobody else to have to suffer the pain that our family is suffering," Hulst said at the news conference.

The Federal Communications Commission has joined the investigation into Strange's death at the request of the family's attorneys, spokesman Clyde Ensslin said. He said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was "troubled" by the information in the letter.

If it finds wrongdoing, the FCC could fine the station or deny its license renewal application.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks for posting this, Elyse. I have been hoping that some justice would come out of this for this poor woman's family. I have wondered many times how her kids are doing, and of course, the rest of the family.

I have been hearing bits and pieces from people that there would be no successful lawsuit because she signed a waiver of liability. This indicates that she didn't sign anything that would keep the family from winning the case. I'm satisfied that they have a very good chance of seeing justice served.

[applesmom]

I agree completely that this is a tragedy that never should have happened.
There's no doubt that the family will win the lawsuit, but that won't bring her back!

Where does personal responsibility begin and end? To knowingly and deliberatly risk one's health merely to provide an expensive toy for your kids doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

According to other reports; the dangers of drinking too much water was an often repeated topic on the talk show before the event even took place. Reportedly she was well aware of the dangers and laughed them off. :eek:

[Lady's Human]

Not everyone knows that too much water can kill you. In the military we hear about it all the time and we have water/weather/workload consumption tables to ensure that troops are drinking enough, but not too much. I'm sure sports teams harp on it as well, but unless you are involved in something that makes you pay attention to it, many people have either never heard of it or shrug it off with a "yeah, right".