News Wee for a Wii ends with mother's death

[Garside]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/01...n_Wee_for_Wii/

[Mankz]

sad, but im not sure the Radio Stadio is liable....

surely its the womans fault for drinking bad water...

[DougEdey]

According to the guy quoted they were given a health warning.

[whisperwolf]

yes but they also had no medical staff on hand during the stunt

[aggies11]

Should have mixed in some gator-aide with the water.

It's all about the electrolytes.

I guess kids can now complain when their parents say "Just hold it in, it's not gonna kill you"

- Drinking lots of water: relatively harmless

- Holding it in: relatively harmless

But mixing the two together is deadly, unfortunately.

I wouldn't say anyone should be liable, this is just one of those unfortunate things that happen.

Aggies

[DXR_13KE]

sad and pretty dumb IMO, on the part of the woman, if you know you have issues don't do things you cant, and the station because they did not have any medical staff on hand.... even if they were not counting on that.... and another thing... is it even possible for this to happen to a healthy individual?

edit: wow did not see aggies11 post.... please explain "It's all about the electrolytes.".

[Bladestorm]

Asking someone to drink massive quantities of water without urinating is just as lethal as asking them to drink massive quantities of vodka or other hard liquor, only likely more so because people dont realize the danger or potentially pass out as quickly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_poisoning

Absolutely idiotic stunt by the station, really they should be held accountable I think.

[nechochwyn]

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

and the station because they did not have any medical staff on hand

even if the radio station had meidcal personel on staff wouldnt have mattered because she left and died later at home, the medical staff that would have been there wouldnt have been able to do anything for her

and having put gatorade with that might have done her in even quicker with the fact that they were holding in the wee, too much potassium in the system

however, the radio station whether or not the radio station should be liable i couldnt say

[hitman012]

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

is it even possible for this to happen to a healthy individual?

Yes - an excess of pretty much anything will kill you, and water is no exception. Check out the Wikipedia link for more info (the Beeb also have an article).

[Mother-Goose]

It was more than just holding the water its is most likely due to the levels of urea in her body (more water means it will be re circulated as the bladder cannot contain it).

What a dumba*s, not the stations fault.

[Snafu-X-]

It was pretty dumb of the station to not take basic precautions and have medical staff, as well as check into any possible complications from drinking that much water. I'm sure those involved thought this was a harmless stunt. Today's legal system however, blames anyone who doesn't fully research and take all precautions. Let's not forget, the mother's own poor judgement is a major factor as well. My heart goes out to her family though, this is a tragic loss.

[Tomm]

If they had any medical staff there, they would have stopped it. It's a shame that this sort of thing happens, because no doubt the radio station will be held liable. We used to play that game at school lunchtime, and no-one died. But it is much more dangerous than you think.

[M4RTIN]

the simpsons taught me not to hold it in, after abe's kidneys blew up

in all seriousness i cant believe the radio station didnt do some in depth research on the dangers of this kind of stunt.
i'd say everyone involved is stupid, the station for running the competition and the people for being so greedy they'd risk their health for a games console

[aggies11]

Supposedly water "intoxification" is caused by a change in electrolyte concentrations in the body. The body is a very sensitive system and requires various chemicals/agents to be within certain levels. When these levels change, the body has built in systems to try and keep them in the appropriate levels.

When you drink water, you increase the amount of water in the body, but unless you also consume electrolytes, the amount of electrolytes stays the same (or even lowers, if you sweat, etc). This means that the relative concentration goes down, which is the important number. The bodies natural reaction to restore this, is to get rid of the excess water (urinate). If you hold it in while drinking large quantities of water, you can seriously lower your electrolyte concentrations.

Low levels of electrolyte concentration apparently messes with the brain, causing the symptoms that the lady experience (headache, nausea, light headed-ness etc), ultimately leading in death.

If this is indeed what happened (based on the news info, it sounds likely), then she would have needed to maintain her electrolyte levels, by either getting rid of water (urinating), or taking in more electrolytes (eg. gatoraide).

The situation is made worse/sped up if your diet is naturally low in electrolytes (eg. a low sodium diet).

This is just a rough outline of the process. But basically the body runs on water, meaning that the level of water in your body is actually significant. Drink as much water as you want, but allow the body to naturally make the adjustments it needs (eg. urinate). Interfere with that process (holding it in), and the results can be unfortunate :/-

To be fair: any reasonable/average person probably would not have seen anything wrong with the setup, and would have been surprised by the results.

Aggies

[plug_in_ross]

It's a tragedy for sure, but pretty damn stupid. Somewhat similar to the stunt another radio station pulled, by asking people to donate their babies to the station for a day, in exchange for a PS3. To their shock, they were inundated with calls to take up this offer.

If I was in that situation though, I would have sat on a radiator and had several hair dryers blowing in my face. So, I'd constantly be sweating out the water I would have just drank, therefore I would be able to last a long time. But aside from that, is £180 really worth a life? No.

[Paradigm Shifter]

I just feel sorry for the woman's kids. Because she wanted to win them a console, they no longer have a mother.

[Spaceraver]

darwin awards??

[randosome]

i don't get this

i assume she was at the radio station, she did the competition, and then left
Now is it just me who would go and urinate once i completed the competition ? which would probably allow her body to get back to normality .... (well kinda)

the way its being told so far, makes it sound like shes lost, gone home, died and never urinated ?

Originally Posted by plug_in_ross

If I was in that situation though, I would have sat on a radiator and had several hair dryers blowing in my face. So, I'd constantly be sweating out the water I would have just drank, therefore I would be able to last a long time. But aside from that, is £180 really worth a life? No.

the way I'm reading it that would make things worse, when you sweat you sweat out your salts, so if you sweat more, your going to make the situation worse

[Kipman725]

... stupidity at it's finest

[DeX]

It surely is the station's fault. Not the contestant's. It's their responsibility to understand that drinking too much water can kill you. It's extremely unreasonable to assume that your average person knows and understands their limits when drinking large quantities of water and be able recognise the symptoms in time.

randosome, your kidneys can only process water a certain volume of water over a given period of time. This Strange woman probably had a wee (and hence lost the contest), went home, went again and then died as a result of the still very low concentrations of salt in her blood. Going for a wee doesn't replenish those lost salts. They are lost after the water has passed through the kidneys.

I wish people would inform themselves about water poisoning before blaming this on the contestant. Personally, I blame Nintendo. They shouldn't have given their console such a bloody silly name.