Woman dies of 'water intoxication' after radio contest

I radio station from the UK (BRMB) did a stunt involving trying to sit on a block of dry ice for the longest time. The contestants all ended up with severe burns.

Even with waivers and medical help on hand the station were found guilty of breaching health and safety laws and fined.

So, with any luck the station involved here can be sued/prosecuted even if there was a waiver. I've always been against suing people but in this case I think it's very appropriate.

My condolences to the family.

Only in America.

Dying from drinking too much water "SHOULD" be common household knowledge, along with don't put your fingers in the electrical outlet and knives are sharp and can kill you. I can literially hear all the lawyers mobile phone ringing at the same time.

i don;t get it!
though this may be tragic for the family, it still is a funny way to die. why do we cry so much for this woman? This world is so big to spend so much time gawking at one death. All that press over this lady, Steve Irwin, Princess Diana, JFK jr. ... it makes no sense to me. I didn't know those people, neither did you ... sure its sad that they died, but they wouldn't have come to my funeral, or your dads funeral. Everybody dies! A lot of people die slower, more tragic, and more painful deaths. I empathize for THEM. I have a conscience, feelings, emotions, and am not desynthesized. but i luv me some Dead Rising! especially the shower head because you can stick it in the zombies head and blood starts flowing out of the nozzle. and the garden shears, and the sickle. i could kill zombies all day.

I listen to this radio station in the morning because the DJ's are pretty funny...they play a REALLY crappy selection of music but I don't believe that they should be dragged into the streets and shot for what has happened. The radio hostes are in there mid 20's and do have really big hearts. They weren't on the air today (dunno...maybe it was just because of the holoday)but I'm sure that tomorrow morning they will be airing quite the apology to the family and friends of the victim.

Yah know I was able to read about 25 or so of all your comments. The interesting thing is that none of you are from the Sacramento Area. I would just let you know that it is entirely possible that the family of this woman might stumble across your comments. I did and found it by a simple MSN search. The funny thing is that it was in the first 5 search results. As for the Radio station, the contest is easy to be viewed now as "stupid" but at the same time how many of your local stations do stupid contests that at the time seem silly until someone gets hurt, exposed, or worse........dies from it. Its only when this occurs that we label it "stupid" and "sue worthy." When no one is hurt its all in the name of "entertainment." Kinda like being a gamer... a violent game is "entertainment" until a highschool student desides to reinact something that he or she saw and played on a video game.

I am not saying that any of it should or shouldn't be condoned. I am saying that if you are going to take a stand........ don't be a hipocrite!

Again I support one of the final comments above. This radio station has promoted everything from feed the hungry to, holiday athons and paying peoples utilities. I again must say that suing the station is just simply a cop out. Not that I don't feel for the loss of a loved one to a questionable stunt, but its not the first time its happened and definately wont be the last. The world just needs to learn, ........even if its for 5-7 years until someone tries it again because they forgot or aren't here to learn from this mistake.......

This is very awful. On the one hand, she's a mother. On the other, you would think if she was in that much pain, she would go to the bathroom. I mean, lets forget about the hyponatremia for a minute. How about UTI? She had to have known that she was puting herself at risk for one. Not to mention, the sheer pain of holding it in. You have to stop and think. Even if she did it for her kids. Kids will get over, not having a Wii. I'm sorry she died for an unnoble cause. But seriously, she should've just buckled in and went to the bathroom. It's a simple bodily function, that can't be ignored without facing a serious amount of damage. I don't think the radio station should be sued for running a retarded contest. Cause she should've been more responsible and took care of herself.

Christ there are some fucked up people out there. For those so keen to invoke Darwinism, your inability to feel empathy suggests that you are the genetic throwbacks. And to the "it's 100% her fault" people, that radio station came up with the stupid idea, promoted the stupid idea, actively sought out people to perform the stupid idea, facilitated the implementation of the stupid idea, they even paid for the water. They definitely deserve blame.

Yeah...the radio station should have done their research. Many people have died from drinking too much water...most of it because they were on E but still. I feel soo bad for this family. Does anyone know how old she was?

so what I've learned from all of this is that alot of water wihtout enough sodium will kill you.
So from now on I should drink large amounts of salt water?

What kind of water was she drinking? Has anyone asked that. Sue the water company she was drinking from. If it were tap sue the city. Sue the radio station. Everyone is going to sue , sue , sue. God, over a fucking nintendo game thats so lame.

This is the information I found about the radio station. ...... My thought and prayers are with her family!!!.......

Jennifer Strange was a 28 year old woman who is reported to have died of water intoxication after taking part in a California radio station's water drinking contest. It is reported that Strange had agreed to take part in a contest at radio station "KDND-FM, 107.9 The End" in which participants competed to see how much water they could drink without going to the toilet ("holding their wee" to win a Wii).

Her mother found the body in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova, California, after Strange called her supervisor at her job to say she was heading home in terrible pain.It was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed

According to the Sacramento Bee, a nurse was on air warning that drinking too much water is dangerous. The DJ rebuffed the nurse, saying the contestants signed waivers. However, according to a contestant, the waivers addressed only publicity issues and made no mention of health or safety concerns.

On January 15, 2007 the radio show "Morning Rave" was suspended due to Jennifer Strange's death, and the next day the three hosts of the show and seven other employees were fired due to the tragedy.

They should have played it safe and had them drink rum.

I once smacked a homeless person for a Atari.

It was the contestants choice to participate and they all signed waivers, you don't waive your rights if it is 100% safe...Ever see the UK show Distraction? Like when they electricute the contestants, what if one of them had a heart attack...it was an unfortunate accident...go ahead Strange Family, sue the station, that will make everything all right. The DJ's were fired (understandable) and the morning show terminated. I am sure the station will voluntarily give the family some monetary compensation but I hope the family gets nothing more but legal bills IF they sue, but if they do not sue I hope they have peace!

I can understand that the DJ was unaware that this could happen because it is not something that is commonly heard of, however, a certified nurse called the radio station and confirmed that the contestants "could get very sick and possibly die from water intoxication" and the DJ's comment was "They signed wavers and we're not responsible so its okay." Nothing about this is "okay", three children go without a mother. Its terrible and I hope they get sued for all they've got.

Let the END morning show hostess know what you think:

http://www.myspace.com/trishwiththedish

Sad about the kids etc.. yet..

I'm a gamer, but I will tell you now.. I would still laugh at this even before I was ever gaming, and I know a lot of people with a dark sense of humour that would too. I think this is mainly because people prefer to laugh this stuff off and bounce it off them than let it affect them. I'd prefer to be laughing at this stuff, or raging my keyboard gaming to release some pent up frustrations than taking these pathetic little anti depressant and mood stabilisation pills that the majority of the population is taking.


#46, it's so very true though.. and your own post just compliments everything people say about ignorant Americans. If you live outside of the US, you get a different perspective just how insular you are, created mainly by your media and a few other factors.

Condolences to the woman's family, especially her kids.

That being said:

It is not the radio station's fault the woman drank water beyond here body's tolerance. She did that. Her. Herself. The DJs should in no way be held responsible for her illness and subsequent death (firing them was uncalled for and a ridiculous knee-jerk response). From the documentation / reports, there was a liability form explaining the contest and signed by the contestants. She did not win since she did not consume the most water. She died because she went beyond her body's tolerance and she did not go to her physician or a hospital. GET REAL and start taking responsibility for your own decisions and lives!!!!

First of all, I cannot believe that the radio station thinks that by firing these 10 people that they have absolved themselves from any culpability. I hope that if this does come to trial that it is remembered that these 10 people didn't have this contest without knowledge of the higher ups in the station. Since this contest was something that was thought of at least days before it was done, I would think that at the very least they would have done their home work on what, if any, issues could come up during this type of contest. Also, if the waivers the contestants signed didn't contain medical waivers as other blogs indicated, then both the station and the crew of the show that held this contest are responsible.
Also, since so many people are asking - this person was the runner up. There was another woman who won the wii.
Also, it's really very upsetting to see that so many people have lost their compassion for this woman and the tragedy that she and her family and friends have had to endure just because of a very stupid and ill-planned stunt for a radio station. I know that there are many people who die every day due to tragic ways, and my heart and compassion goes out to all of them as well. However, due to the high-profile way in which this death came to be, it has brought this woman's death to the forefront. You need to try and realize that due to this tragic death a man has lost his wife, and three kids have lost their mother, and so many others have lost a daughter/aunt/cousin/friend. Try and remember that she will not be able to see her kids graduate, get married, have kids of their own, etc. This is all because of someone else's negligence, and for that it is a crime and a tragedy.
So, let's look at how people choose to talk about it. Instead of compassion you see jokes, instead of humanity you see frivality, instead of tears there's laughter. For those of you who are joking, laughing and making light of this, it is you I truly feel sad for.
I don't blame it on gaming, because it's something you feel or don't feel regardless if you're a gamer. However, I do blame it on how easy it has become in this day and age to become a recluse without having to move to an uninhabitated region. There is very little reason to leave ones home. You can get exercise at home, you can get entertainment at home, you don't need to go out unless you want to (or unless you're going to school or your job), you can get groceries and meals delivered, etc. And of course to even add to another way we lose our social skills and humanity, you can even be home schooled even via a computer, and a lot of jobs now allow you to work conveniently from inside your home. We need to be able to have convenience but still get out there and see other people, interact with others, understand who they are, that the differences we possess are actually good and we should embrace them. It's our differences that make it interesting - just how boring would the world be if everyone were the same - but I digress.
Why do I feel that this is the beginning of the demise of humanity? Well, without getting too far into it, the fact that we can remain hidden in our homes and be a true recluse but still live within actual communities allows us to put everyone at arms length. It's easy to forget you're talking with a human being when it's only text you have as your communication. It's easy to forget compassion when all you see is the person in its very limited form in email, or blog, or instant message, etc. The more you only communicate via text the easier and easier it gets to forget that it truly is a person on the other end of this communication -- someone who is living and breathing, that needs your compassion or your sympathy or at the very least your empathy.
I truly feel sad for all that can only see the humor in this tragedy. Your humanity is on the line, I hope you realize this before its too late. For some of you, I fear it already is!
And for all of us, it doesn't matter what gender you are, what religion, what race or what country you call home, we all need to realize soon that we all make up the humanity of this world, and we need to get it fixed before it gets irreperably damaged.

there should definitely be responsibility held here...... there are ways they could have still run that same comtest "hold your wee for wii" by having contestants drink a SAFE but still adequate amount of water and have them drop as they gave in the the bladder urge....... yes the contest would have taken a little longer before all fell out but then noone would have died...... there should have been more research or at least heeding to the warnings given on air rather than joking about it to proceed in a safer manner!

some of you people really make me sick.

first off, she did have kids for you morons who think she didn't. she was trying to win this for her kids and was probably never warned that she could die. i'm sure most people don't know you can, I didn't until today.
the radio station should be held responsible for even having a contest like that to begin with, release forms or not. glad those stupid DJ's got fired. a nurse called in the show and warned them that these people could die, and the DJ didnt' care because they had signed a release form.
I feel bad her kids have to grow up without their mom now, when she was trying to do something for them, and such a sad and weird way to die.
some of you people need to grow up and get a heart. instead of sayign she deserved to die and talk about her in a bad way.

Here's the radio show and the woman talking on it

http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/kdndslides/

You got to wonder. If you saw your belly ballooning out like you were pregnant, wouldn't you go to the hospital? The radio station people aren't nice people, but I think she should have had at least some personal responsibility over her own body.

I was listening to talk radio today and they were playing clips from that radio show. These guys who were the host of the show have to be the most ignorant people on the plant. A lady called into the station and warned them that by drinking too much water you could die. The hosts had the nerve to say, "its ok they signed waivers." in a joking and sarcastic way. I think its so funny that companies think they can get away with anything just because they have a "waivers" or "disclosures." This radio station is going down! Someone will be going to jail for criminal negligence and will defiantly be sued. Big mistake. Well they all got fired anyway. I guess that shows radio host are idiots...Well all except Tom Leykis!!

@25 David004.

she had three kids. and she entered the contest for her kids. does that make her death any less senseless?

I can't believe the lack of respect people have for each other. Total insensitivity.

here's the whole scoop. The contest started off with the contestants drinking small bottles of water. The dead imbecile - and you'll see why I call her, and every person involved in this contest, an imbecile - actually left the contest before they moved on to even bigger bottles of water.

So why are these people idiots? During the broadcast of the contest, the DJ's can be heard JOKING about the death of a fraternity pledge 2 years ago from excessive water consumption during fraternity hazing. The contestants are standing there, drinking this water, and listening to this jerkoffs joke about somebody dying from doing the exact same things that this retards were doing, and they kept right on drinking.

Stupid people deserve to be made fun of. This woman dying raised the average IQ of the planet several points. And to be honest, I hope her family gets nothing from the lawsuit they filed. This was a full grown adult woman, albeit a very dumb one, who made a decision to enter this contest - the court system isn't supposed to hand out cash every time an idiot dies from something stupid.

Do the Dj's deserve to be fired -yes, and they were. so were several other people at the station. But i see no reason that this womans family should reap a financial windfall because she's stupid.

I wonder how many of people who laugh and who talk about Darwin awards had known about water intoxication before this incident. I'd bet most of you hadn't known about it. Just the fact that you are talking about not going to the bathroom which has absolutely nothing to do with it - even if she had gone to the bathroom but still drank as much water in the same amount of time the result would've been the same. Here is the explanation: tp://rhosgobel.blogspot.com/2007/01/death-by-water-intake-look-at-osmosis.html

The woman didn't know about it. She thought she would be uncomfortable, but she didn't know she could die. As another participant said, the people in the room where the competition was held couldn't hear the call from the nurse warning about the dangers. But the DJ and the show hosts failed to warn people that they could die. Not only that, they laughed about the danger. So it seems to me, they are clearly at fault.

This is certainly very sad. It's inexcuseable for the radio station to have had such a dangerous contest, and to ignore the nurse that called in to warn them that it was dangerous and could lead to death. The morning show personalities just made light of it, and then said to her, "So, why aren't you here doing the contest" to which she said, "I don't want to die". It's very sad that the lady didn't know that drinking lots of water can kill you. It is the responsibility of anyone putting on a contest to make sure that there isn't a danger like this, though, and even if a danger is low but not extreme like in this case, they should have a doctor on hand just in case. The radio station was completely irresponsible since not only did they either fail to due the research, and failed to know what they should have known anyway, that consuming too much water can easily kill you, but they also ignored people who told them of the dangers before it was too late. I hope creminal charges are brought against those responsible for this careless act.

Reply to 119:

Umm.. that's really stupid. Yes, she probably should have realized that consuming loads of water is dangersous, and it shouldn't be done.. but come on, the people putting on the contest shouldn't have realized it, and aren't responsible? And they shouldn't have even been fired for their carelessness? They should be more than fired, they should be charged criminally! They were warned of the dangers, and ignored them. They didn't even let the contestants hear the warnings, they were in a seperate room without being able to hear the radio. The radio station specifically set up a scenario that would be very dangerous for anyone. It has nothing to do with her knowing how much she can drink. If you drink a couple of gallons or more of water, you stand a very good likelyhood of dying. The radio station set this stupid contest up, ignored the warnings, and joked about the prospect of dying. They should go to jail.

Post #112: WRONG! Try again! This isn't at all like someone having a heart attack, it was a situation with a very clear outcome. With that many people participating, it was most likely that at least one of them would die. They are absolutely liable. I doubt the waiver they had them sign told them that if they drunk enough to make it to the final couple of people they would have a 50% chance of living, which is approximately your chance of surviving after you drink 2-3 gallons of water.

Had the station not been aware of the risks associated with consuming water, they would have still been liable even with the waiver. Holding this contest without properly researching the risks is negligence causing death.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/newsroom/kdndslides/

Now the above link indicates they were well aware of the risks, and that a contestant complained of the symptoms of this fatal condition. The bastards didn't even get her medical attention because she signed a waiver.

The station should be sued to oblivion for letting this happen, and the DJs should be charged with manslaughter.

If a waiver absolved you of all wrongdoing we would see pay per view deathmatches and other blatant disregard for human life happening on a daily basis.

@ 25

"'It seems like the consoles are out there to make sure mankind is extinct.'

It's called dieing for the better of mankind. From the sounds of it she doesn't have any kids or husband so she died so her dumbass genes wouldn't spread out throughout the country. It's a good day for mankind."

Actually, she DID have kids. If you would have tried to actually give a damn about someone's DEATH before you posted dumbass shit, then you would have seen this:

"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."

Three kids no longer have a mother because of this, and it doesn't help anyone that you're making senseless remarks about it.

Anyway, I think it's depressing that our society has come to this. Killing eachother, and ourselves over game consoles because we have to wait maybe a year to get one. Honestly, that's pretty sad.

a waiver of liability is supposed to be just that - a waiver of liability. This full grown adult woman signed a form releasing the station - why the hell do you think they have people sign waivers?

If this woman was not capable of making this decision, then how is she even remotely capable of raising children? Or crossing the street on her own? I mean, we're not talking about a mentally retarded person... or a deranged mental patient. This was a supposedly normal person who made several bad decisions - to enter the contest without looking into any risks, signing the waiver, not seeking medical attention for herself when she felt ill afterwards, not quitting the contest when she heard the nurse call in to warn the station of the dangers...

Sure, the DJ's were stupid for putting on the contest... th station dumb for allowing it... but this woman screwed up as well, and her family shouldn't get a pile of money because they want to blame mommy's death on something other than mommy's actions. Don't let the emotional factor of her being a dead mother of three cloud the fact that she was an adult and made this decision of her own free will.

And also, you do have to realize that all the contestants heard the nurses call when she called in to warn the station.... When the nurse told the DJ that she didnt enter the contest because she didn't want to die, the contestants heard that too... and immediately after the nurse said that, the DJ said to the people in the contest "So do we have anybody ready to die in there yet?".... and the station employee in the room with the contestants said "Yeah, we've got one guy in here that's ready to die..." and then they all laughed - even the contestants.

I seriously doubt they had 16 contestants, galons of water, as well as support staff crammed into the DJ booth. Not to mention the feedback from broadcasting and recording in the same room. There is a reason radio shows make you turn your radio off when you call in.

The contestants most likely had no clue what was being said on the air. They would have gone into a panic if they had heard the nurse's warning.

I also doubt that the waiver they signed mentioned that participating in th contest was potentially fatal. Several contestants came forward indicating that they had not been made aware of the risks.

wulf - you have no idea what you are talking about. There would be no feedback issue - the signal isn't broadcast from inside the station, but from those big antenna's they have on the building. If the antenna interfered with the broadcast, it would interfere with anything broadcast from the building....

The contestants were able to hear the entire broadcast from the room that they were in - if you've ever been inside a radio station, guess what's being pumped through the speaker sysytem into every room in the place.. I'll give you a hint, it's not a rival radio station.

The contestants were in a separate room, listening to the broadcast as they drank their water. The DJ's had another person from the station in that room with the contestants, and this person had a mic in case the DJ's wanted to talk to the contestants. The contestants heard the entire broadcast - including the nurses call.

This woman was 28 years old - legally capable of making decisions for herself. She could vote, drive an automobile, or be given the death penalty for a crime - but she isn't smart enough to make a decision in the case of this contest? And the station shouldbe held financially liable for her stupidity?

wow so last time i checked contests are voluntary, meaning enter at your own risk. And obviously there was a wavior because the station is at least smart enough to not of had someone 18 or under participating...So anyways, basically anyone saying they didnt know the risk or saying it's okay to sue the station is just another member of the 'sue happy society'. Hmm last time i checked u learned about water intoxication in highschool in biology. Oh yeah another thing, contests are announced ahead of time.... if any one should of done research wouldnt it be the contestants job??

I personally would never have thought water to be a killer substance and therefore find it hard to side with either situation. I am sorry for the family's loss and feel for the radio station in there nieve involvement. I feel you really did not know.

How aweful that must be.

My regards,
Miranda

Your comments: I personally would never have thought water to be a
killer substance
and therefore find it hard to side with either situation. I am sorry
for the family's loss and feel for the radio station in there nieve
involvement. I feel you really did not know. How aweful that must
be.My regards,Miranda