Of course not. That’s why some minor common sense and a little personal responsibility would keep me away from such antics.
Wrong thread. 
From Lute’s link:
Offered without comment.
How lucky you are to be so imbued with such knowlege. Many ordinary mortals might not be so lucky. I’m sure you’re not suggesting she lacked personal reponsibility.
Are you?
Prior to the start of the competition, the DJs are joking about water intoxication.
“Can’t you get water poisoning and, like, die?.. Maybe would should have researched this before. Ha! Ha!”
I’m not sure if the Sacramento Bee is a free registration site or not.
Didn’t you realize that competitive eating of handheld communications equipment is dangerous, Swallowed My Cellphone? 
That recording dispels the notion that the radio personalities didn’t know this was dangerous right from the start. They even referred to the college kid who died. They were counting on the contestant throwing up before getting sick enough to die. Lovely.
I was touched, though, that they checked on the contestants when the nurse called.
“Is anyone dying back there?”
“Yeah, one guy is almost dead, ha ha.”
“Make sure he signs the release!”
Yes, that’s why I have such a personal hate-on for radio stations. Every time my colon starts to vibrate with that happy ringtone…
I will have my revenge!
Bastards.
Something that’s important to note - because that snotty little aside kind of irked me in the article - is that the reason people were doing extreme things to get a Wii is that it’s all-but impossible to actually find one to purchase, and has been so since before Christmas. I just thought it was kind of lame to infer “this lady threw her life away for $250,” as though she could just walk into a store and get one.
It’s about time!
This is what infuriates me the most. That hazing death was plastered all over the news down here in San Francisco. How in the hell could a whole chain of command + pool of contestants not have heard about this?!
The DJs even mention it on the air before the contest got underway. You hear it in the audio file I linked to above.
When they are talking about dying by water intoxication, one of the background people, either “Carter” or an intern, brings up “that poor college kid” who died.
One DJ says: “That’s what I was thinking.”
The other DJ responds: “Yeah, well, he was doing other things.”
I’m a radio station executive (very small radio station, to be sure) and I have to say that there is absolutely nothing defensible about this incident. I’d be the first to throw these clowns under the bus.
I did notice that ten people lost their jobs, so it looks to me like the parent company pretty much cleaned house. That particular show probably doesn’t even exist any more, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the parent company completely rebranded the station, including a change in call letters, if at all possible. “The End” just doesn’t seem like a viable brand at this point.
Radio stations are in a fight for our lives, and we’re fighting not just to keep listeners (thus advertisers, and stay on the air) but to stay relevant to our audience. “Personality radio” has always been the land of the fart joke, and most Americans enjoy a good bawdy line or two with their morning coffee. But in the struggle to keep your ear, sometimes radio people lose track of the line between reality and the fantasy theatre of the mind they work so hard to create. The drive to constantly be new and surprising and a little off-kilter and even slightly twisted results in some truly bizarre promotions.
I’ve been in this business off and on (with a 20+ year break to practice journalism) since I was in my teens, and I have helped develop and participated in hundreds of “wacky” radio promotions. And the very first question we always, and I mean ALWAYS, ask is, “Can someone get hurt?” If the answer isn’t obvious, we call an expert. A nurse would never have to call my radio station to warn us about water poisoning – I would already have asked at least one doctor, and if he/she left questions in my head, I’d ask another. The only answer I want to hear is “No way!”; anything else, and the idea is shot down right then and there. Hurting someone in a radio promotion doesn’t just impact the bottom line with a legal settlement, it devastates your station and lays waste to the careers of the innocent and the guilty alike. The cost to the victim’s family in this case is pretty obvious. What isn’t so obvious is the cost to the families of the radio station employees if that station can’t stay on the air now (and that’s a definite possibility.) People who probably had nothing to do with this stupid idea now will have their careers wrecked by the recklessness of a few. This is a tragedy that will reverberate through the community, the station and the company, and it was completely preventable.
The station has a new splash screen for its website expressing condolences for Ms. Strange’s death, a promise to investigate, and a notice that the morning show is cancelled. It’s a shame it came five days after the fact.
Robin
According to the BBC (via the Sacramento Bee) the county Sheriff doesn’t think there are any grounds for a prosecution:
I’m not sure I agree here. The DJs were clearly aware of the risks, and it doesn’t sound like Strange was specifically informed of the danger (as opposed to a hand-wavy “not our fault if” kind of way). Moreover, when clearly exhibiting symptoms of water intoxication at the end (which include impaired judgment), the station clearly made no attempt whatsoever to get her medical treatment, not even recommending that she visit a professional. Indeed, listening to the clip posted earlier it sounds like she was told that her symptoms were normal; to be expected, and not worried about.
Does a lawyer have any perspective on whether this constitutes criminal negligence in the States? I’m almost certain this would be an open-and-shut case in the UK, but I’m aware that we have relatively strong health and safety legislation over here.
The comparison that keeps coming to my mind is this: say I were filthy rich and a vile person, and went and paid some tramps to play Russian Roulette. Would I be prosecutable if one of them died? What if I’d fully loaded the gun, and hadn’t told them? At what point, if any, does a failure to fully disclose a known risk become a criminal act?
Check out post #132 above. Apparently, the sheriff is reconsidering.
The Sacramento Sheriff seems to have changed his mind. According to the Sacramento Bee, after listening to audio recordings of the show, he directed homicide detectives to investigate the incident, and scheduled a meeting with the District Attorney.
I think the factor that changed the sheriff’s mind, is later in the broadcast when Jennifer Strange says she feels sick.
Strange: “My head hurts. They keep telling me though that it’s the water, that it will tell my head to hurt and then it will make me puke. But …”
DJ: “Who told you that, the intern?”
Strange: "Yeah, it hurts, but makes you feel lightheaded, so I’m not sure if I’m … "
Then the DJ cuts her off and makes a joke about how that’s “what it feels like when you’re drowning.”
Strange says she is in pain after that as well.
Yes, the contestants are there of their own free will, BUT by the end of the contest she is saying she feels sick and is describing troubling symptoms of hyponetremia. The DJs are very clear at the start of the program that they are aware that people can die from drinking too much water. Instead of getting her medical help, they gave her two tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert and sent her on her way.
So as it stands, after hearing the recording that SacBee posted on-line, the Sheriff has revised his earlier “this isn’t criminal” claim to: "…there is the potential for a manslaughter charge if investigators find radio hosts did not render aid to Strange.
So while she was there of her own free will, they were negligent in getting her help once she ODed on the water they were giving her.