As a big fan of water I long ago learned about the dangers of drinking too much water. I remember learning about it in the context of psychiatric patients not being given unlimited access to water in their rooms for fear of their over imbibing. Apparently a few people at a radio station have never heard of it though … they held a contest to see who could drink the most water without going to the washroom. One lady tried so hard she ended up dying. Seriously – she went home complaining of headaches and died later that day. Sure, the station fired the people involved but come on – no medical supervision? Some people suggest that this contest is the same thing as poisoning a person inadvertently, through negligence. Is this a crime? Was this involuntary manslaughter?
After the contest, Strange called in sick to work, crying and saying she was heading home in terrible pain. About five hours later, Strange – who had three children – was found dead by her mother at her home
The news article mentions a similar frat party death from water a few years ago and the frat boy pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Is this any different? In our litigious world I would not be surprised to hear about court cases surrounding this event. But from my perspective – what are her children going to do? She died trying to win them a Wii. How does one come to grips with this event on a personal level?
This was all over the news down here. The scary thing is someone who was listening to the station at the time called them and identified herself as a nurse and warned them about the danger this posed and told them they shouldn’t continue the contest. The DJs response was something the effect of “well, they all signed waivers, so we’ll be fine”.