I still remember the “Korean haemmoragic fever” episode.
To me, the radio station, even it didn’t have any prior expectation of the possibility of harm from a water-drinking contest, should at least have required that some kind of pro forma legal research be done into the potential for liability of this contest. Once that was initiated, there certainly is enough information out there now about this hazard for them to at least be aware.
Question: Am the the only person who wonders about this same sort of potential harm coming to someone someday in one of those “who can eat the most ________” contests.
Nothing (or not much, AFIK) has happened so far, but I think eventually, if someone’s system is particular fragile in some way and sensitive to being stuffed just that nth of a degree too much, it could.
But then again, I wouldn’t want to suggesting spoiling anyone else’s idea of “fun” based on this conjecture alone. :rolleyes:
I know I saw an episode like this on CSI or L&O or something. Except in that case it was a bunch of frat kids killing a kid during a hazing ritual.
Not too often that the real-life example is actually stupider than the TV version.
:mad:
No one beat anyone to anything. This is the Pit, and this is one of the most pittable things in recent memory. So fuck off.
See, I (unfortunately) was right! I shoulda been a physician.
Two seconds of googling could have prevented this. Anything crazy and unorthodox you to do your body a person should worry about the health effects. It’s not natural to force yourself to drink water nonstop and then refuse to pee. The only question is how unsafe it is, and no one bothered to even try to find out, apparently.
I’m wholly in agreement that the bastards responsible for this travesty deserve some serious repercussions. But in the past when I have suggested that firing is a traumatic event that can have a seriously nasty effect on a person, I have been assured by many Dopers that it is a minor thing, easily overcome by many people. If this is true, firing just isn’t enough.
Jail time and/or lawsuits resulting in huge judgments would seem more fitting to me. After all, you can be fired or laid off from work for reasons that have little to do with your conduct. The jail/lawsuits at least establish wrongdoing as wel las being onerous.
I’m having a hard time feeling much outrage. I remember a marathon runner that got damn sick from this (she didn’t die, thankfully) because the medic team people kept forcing more water on her after she reported headaches and cramps at the end of the race.
“Anyone that has ever trained for a marathon”? As recently as April 2006, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (or something) reported as if were not common knowledge at all - best link I have handy
On the other hand, DJ’s and their contests are fucking annoying, so I’m ok with holding them responsible.
But did her kids get the Wii?
I doubt they could even stand to look at it if they were handed one, given the circumstances of their mother’s death. 
…but I just don’t see what basis there is for a lawsuit. The woman freely entered a contest (after signing a release and hold harmless agreement, I am sure), was told to stop if she felt discomfort, didn’t, and tragically, she died. The whole time I’m reading that article, I’m thinking to myself “What if that had been my wife?”. I’d be devastated, but I can’t conceive that I would want to sue anyone. I just don’t understand the mentality. Honestly, it’s completely beyond me. She chose to do this, she chose not to stop when she should have, and she’s dead. It’s a tragedy, but the only basis for a lawsuit in my mind is the sadly all to common idea “A tragedy happened, someone needs pay meb(the woman’s family) some money because it’s certainly not (the woman’s) my responsibility”. 
All right, Weirddave, let’s stop being just Doper-contrarian here. What was the point of the contest? What were the constestants SUPPOSED to feel, if not discomfort? Was it not an endurance contest? Weren’t they looking for people to get just as uncomfortable as they could? What would be the wholly predictable outcome of that?
The basic terms of the contest were unsafe. I may start a contest to see who is the best at jumping on top of live hand grenades, and get the participants to sign hold harmless agreements, but I’m not at all sure such a document would protect me.
Are you sure? We don’t know that. And who would possibly draw up such a release and not know what the risks they were protecting themselves from?
No, the whole premise of the contest is that you fight discomfort to keep going. They were not told to stop if they felt discomfort that we know of. All we know so far is that they were told “if you don’t feel like you can do this, don’t put your health at risk.” To a contestant, this “warning” basically amounts to “can you do it, pussy?” and at the same time is an acknowledgment that they knew that perhaps it wasn’t entirely consistent with ones health. This woman then showed the classic signs of the imbalance, an entirely predictable outcome of this sort of contest, and they basically let her leave and go home to die (probably after having lost the contest too).
In short, it’s likely that the woman didn’t know the risks going into the contest, and probably was not informed of them. By the time she was feeling “discomfort” its quite possible that she was so disoriented that her judgment was impaired (another predictable outcome). The people who organized the contest, on the other hand, basically led people into this most likely without caring about, informing themselves about, or telling people about, the risks.
Again, regardless of the woman’s judgment, they basically taunted a woman into killing herself for a Wii. The only question at this point is how much they knew about what they were doing and the risks they were subjecting people to. Either they were negligent in not finding out in the first place, or they knew, found out, and were negligent in letting and impaired dying woman wander off to die without medical attention (which might have saved her life).
It’s possible that the woman might have had some sort of undiagnosed kidney impairment. But again, the best you can do to excuse the radio company is by the revelation that they fully informed the contestants of the risks. But you can’t then explain why they would leave her to die given her obvious symptoms.
The best case scenario here is still shitty. If you don’t think a lawsuit is valid here, I don’t really care. But this contest is no different than paying homeless people to compete to see who can drink the most Draino without dying in order to win a catered lunch and a new coat. It’s flatly morally despicable, regardless of the carefully parsed issue of getting themselves out of legal culpability.
Encouraging people to actually risk their life (even if they know they are risking their life and agree to hold you not responsible for harm) for a reward they are desperate for (even if it’s not itself a life or death need) is very dick. Doing it without even having the proper forethought or resources there to make sure they don’t die is simply horrendous.
If you’re going to pay people to do things that are potentially lethal, you had damn well better take reasonable precautions to prevent deaths. Whether it be Boxing, Crab Fishing, or Water Drinking. You set up the situation, you promise to pay the participant, you have responsibility.
They should have had a medical technician there, and made sure this woman was healthy enough to go home, or just not done this stupid stunt.
Oh for fuck’s sake, if you HONESTLY think that firing someone is as bad as what these assholes did, you’re even dumber than I thought you were.
It was a dangerously stupid contest. Poor family.
There was a story a few months back about a dude who would suffer mild heart attacks each time he entered a “Eat all the (hotdogs, etc) you can in ten minutes.” But he kept entering. And now I can’t remember if it was legit or a storyline on one of those medical dramas. Anywho, people need to learn that these types of contests are needlessly dangerous.
I keep waiting for someone to die of exhaustion during one of those “Put your hand on the truck” contests.
It was a dangerously stupid contest. Poor family.
There was a story a few months back about a dude who would suffer mild heart attacks each time he entered a “Eat all the (hotdogs, etc) you can in ten minutes.” But he kept entering. And now I can’t remember if it was legit or a storyline on one of those medical dramas. Anywho, people need to learn that these types of contests are needlessly dangerous.
I keep waiting for someone to die of exhaustion during one of those “Put your hand on the truck” contests.
Is it too much to expect that members of the media might from time to time pay attention to - oh - news maybe? I suppose that station may not actually have a news department but how could the staff of an entire radio station not have heard of people dying in marathons because of this? Or not have friends or family who’ve run in marathons?
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I learned in High School that you could die from drinking too much water - it may be fairly obscure knowledge, but it’s not completely arcane.
I think Apos hit the nail on the head with:
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