DHMO (Dihydrogen Monoxide) is a very dangerous substance. 
But seriously, folks: Woman dies after water-drinking contest:
This quote struck me as very sad:
I knew that gorging on water was dangerous - I thought a reasonable portion of the population did.
At least enough, anyway, to know that:
was a terrible idea. Did their lawyers vet this at all?
What struck me as even sadder was that she was trying to win a Wii for her kids. A lousy Wii video game console - and now she’s dead.
From the CNN.com article:
“Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner…"
It doesn’t sound to me like that was very well thought out. :rolleyes:
Sounds like prime lawsuit territory to me (lawyers on this board may chime in at any time)…
Many of us, as children, one day realized that grownups don’t necessarily know what they’re doing. In this case, whoever was in charge at that radio station made a decision so obviously stupid it would seem like bad writing in a comedy.
Incidentally, I’m pretty sure the regular chemical name for water is simply hydrogen oxide. You can usually find a way to lengthen a chemical name, but there’s no point.
I used the name used in the first link.
I can’t believe a doctor didn’t call in and warn them while the show was on air.
Huh - it seems like the lawsuit might be tougher than one might think. From the article:
If I were the defendants’ lawyer, I might say something like: “My clients had absolutely no intention that any contestant risk their health for a relatively inexpensive videogame console. And just to ensure that no one did, they advised the contestants against doing anything they felt might be dangerous. My clients could never have anticipated that the deceased would have made the tragic decision to continue drinking when she was already feeling the ill-effects of water intoxication.”
Of course, one thing we (or at least I) don’t know is whether or not a person begins to feel ill from water intoxication before the condition becomes life-threatening. If the deceased could have consumed enough water to put her in danger, and felt no ill-effects until that water had already been consumed, then that’s a tougher case for the radio station. In that case, plaintiff’s counsel could argue that a reasonable person might foreseeably have acted as the victim did, because she would have had no warning it was dangerous.
My guess, anyway. I’m not a lawyer, just a 1L.
actually the life threatening aspect of rapid water ingestion is cerebral edema, impaired judgement would be expected.
The only problem is that they were competing over who could drink the most, with a prize offered, which creates a bit of a conflicted message, i.e. “Don’t drink too much in respect of your health, but if you drink the most we’re giving you an awesome new Wii!”
How very sad.
And yeah, someone is going to get sued.
Exactly.
Not that it will be much of a consolation to them, but her kids are going to get a college education and a new house to go with the Wii. 
How this tragic event occured?.. :rolleyes:
If I answer “by drinking too much water” can I win a prize?
I’ll bet if you asked 10 people if it was a health risk to drink a lot of water, 9 of them would say no. Oh, maybe you’ll get a tummy ache, but fluid imbalance that could kill you?
Stupid contest.
‘As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.’
Out of morbid curiosity, does anyone know how much she drank?
Oh man, you hit it.
The “mono” part of “monoxide” is superfluous, but surely the “di” is essential? Otherwise, how do you distinguish between H[sub]2[/sub]O and HO, a matter of no small importance in this day and age?
Oh, and this contest was the dumbest idea since the invention of dumb ideas.
So, ‘dihydrogen oxide’?
Except for the turkeys. 
Yup. I believe “hydrogen hydroxide” is also kosher. This board being what it is, I’m sure a chemist will pop in to straighten us out any moment now.