Death after water drinking contest:
 

Since we already have a death threat pizza thread, this is another news story:
Woman Dies After Water-Drinking Contest

AP
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Jan. 14) - 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.
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles...0010000000001\
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles...90001?cid=2194

Sad she only did the contest to try and win a Wii for her 3 kids.

Hypernatremia's a bitch!

Wonder if they will get banned or suspended?

People should know better.

That's really interesting because such contests should be illegal considering the potential for harm.

HC such contests are okay as long as Greeks aren't the ones doing them? It should be considered hazing for a prize, since doing so for Greekdom is considered hazing for a "prize."

The radio station should have known better.

Sure the contest's tagline sounded cute, but they really should have put more thought into the potential risks before asking people to drink tons of water. (You know, more thought than "if you think this might harm your health, don't do it")

Mabeee they shud call Nationals!!!!! :mad: :rolleyes: :eek:

Stupid iz as soopid dose!!! :mad:

Brother, some how I have a feeling that the FCC might be calling the studio on Monday or Tuesday.
As well as a few attorneys.

Given the description of the contest, it's a little surprising that a death resulted. It sounds like for the first hour or so, they were only given a certain amount of water to drink in a certain time period. I guess that they didn't expect anyone's bladder to be able to keep up.

I was looking around online, and water poisoning seems more often to occur when a person drinks a large volume of water all at once. The rate that they seemed to be giving the water seemed to be slower than the amount of water the average person's body can excrete.

I'm guessing that the contest sponsors didn't think anyone would be able to wait that long to use the bathroom.

I'm not suggesting that the contest was a good idea or that it's not tragic that a woman died, just that the method of the contest did seem to minimize the risk.

The Vice President of Promotions at the station was quoted as being "stunned."

My guess is that a lot of people don't know that drinking large amounts of water can be dangerous.

I'm sure the FCC will have to take a look at this, but wonder if there will be anything actionable under the Communications Act from which it derives its power.

I'd guess the station will have a pretty heavy civil suit from the woman's family.

It was a stupid contest.

Isn't that the truth though!


This type of thing is actually little known outside of "US GREEKS" who do things for malicious purposes only!:rolleyes:

DeltAlum, I wonder how much power the FCC would ahve over this?

Would this be like droppingm turkeys from heliocopters and finding out they do not fly?

WKRP, Cinncianti and some other dummies?

That's my point. I doubt that the Communications Act (although it's been quite a while since I've studied it) would cover this kind of foolishness.

Although it may not true anymore, with the exception of certain Federal officials like the President, murder was not a Federal crime for many years -- perhaps it still isn't, I don't know.

The FCC can only enforce the rules and laws that Congress has charged it with enforcing. My best guess is that if there are penalties for the station, they will come through local statutes or civil proceedings.

I definitely think this is the case. To be very honest, up until a few years ago (2002-2003?), I didn't know drinking large amounts of water could kill you. The only reason I know now was because some pledges of a nearby fraternity were killed during a hazing incident in which the pledges were forced to drink lots of water.

The prosecutors of this show could be indicted for manslaughter. There will definitely be some wrongful death charges filed.

I don't think the station will "get away" with anything.

A local station here, Star 94.1, ran this exact same contest in the evening last week. I think it was also on Friday. I seriously thought this was a local story until I read that it was in Sacramento. When I went shopping tonight the evening DJs were freaking out and talking to some expert who said it only takes a gallon of water for this to happen. The DJs swore they would never do something that stupid again.