Radio Show Pulled After Woman's Water-Drinking Death

Why should these folks be fired? They are all responsible for the woman's lack of judgement?

 

Yes, they should have been fired because they created the situation that lead to the woman's death via the contest inducement and neglected to pass on the warning they were given concerning the possible effects. They are lucky they have not been charged given there is a precedent fot that as well.

In this account they were responsible for not only the volume to be consumed but the time frame in which the consumption would occur.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/14/national/main2358958.shtml

Earlier Friday, Strange took part in a contest at radio station KDND 107.9 in which participants competed to see how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom.

Initially, contestants were handed eight-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

"They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow contestant James Year of Woodland, California. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk."

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore," he added.

After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

In this account it is noted they were warned of the health risks but were dismissed were not passed on as a real warning.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/news/article_1246854.php/Water_drinking_contest_winner_shocked_by_US_death_of_rival

During the contest, a nurse called in to the station warn of the dangers of drinking too much water quickly. Her worries were dismissed by the disc jockey, The Bee reported.

Experts said too much water can dilute the body's chemical balance, or even cause organs such as the brain to swell.


In this case there were criminal charges for a similar situation in California two years ago.


http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/10/2005103108n.htm
Fraternity Members Are Sentenced to Prison After Admitting to Role in Hazing Death at Cal State-Chico

[SIZE=-1]By JOHN L. PULLEY[/SIZE]


Four fraternity members at California State University's Chico campus pleaded guilty last week on charges related to the death of a college student. Matthew Carrington, 21, died in February of heart failure brought on by the consumption of large amounts of water. The condition, hyponatremia, or water intoxication, is caused by depletion of electrolytes, particularly sodium, in the body. It usually afflicts marathoners and other athletes who sweat heavily and drink a lot of water.

 

the same reason you are guilty for assisting someone to commit suicide.

 

Too bad some feel the need to protect the stupid from themselves.....

 

What ever happened to being responsible for our own actions?

 

I suppose this has some merit. We should also do away with the fraud laws as anyone who is fooled has only themselves to blame because they are too stupid to keep their money, right?

 

Yeah, I smell what you're cookin'.... i just don't see where the radio hosts should be punished for what happened.
Maybe i expect too much of people, but surely these people knew that drinking that much liquid in that short a time could not have been good for them.

 

Maybe the radio station could have just gotten a medical consultant to give their opinion. I'm sure the station's attorney would have likely thrown in his legal two cents. My guess is you have a high degree of ignorance involved on the effects of water intoxication. Water can't kill you...right? Perhaps a good lesson could be stop doing dumb things for money.

 

She chose to be there. She chose to drink the water. At no time was she forced, held down or locked into the station or even told she could not use the rest room. She died because she was being dumb, trying to win a video gaming system. NO ONE is at fault but her. This country right now is so caught up with someone else needing to be at fault for everything. It is just one less stupid person in the world... the gene pool is much better off.

 

But are her children?

 

True, but "not being good for them" is a far cry from "will kill them" too. The people had a responsibility to inform the participants of the risk. They too may have been ignorant, but they designed the contest, which makes them responsible to a degree and then refuted the medical professional who called to warn them of the danger, which sealed their responsibility because they were no longer ignorant of the danger if they had been in the beginning.

 

Can't you just feel the love and compassion for your fellow citizens in this thread?

I suppose this is how Hitler got the "Final Solution" accepted ... you get rid of the insane, stupid, and otherwise defective members of the society and hope that at some point in time you are not considered too defective to live .... :shock:

 

Of course the employees were not too ignornat, stupid, or uninformed to follow the terms of their employment contract?

John Geary, vice president and general manager of KDND parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, announced the firings in an e-mail to reporters: "Effective immediately, the 'Morning Rave' program is canceled and ten employees are no longer with the station."

A company spokesman, Charles Sipkins, confirmed that the three DJs, as well as two other on-air personalities, "Carter" and "Fester," are among those fired. Five other employees who worked on the "Morning Rave" also were let go. All 10 were fired, the spokesman said, for violating terms of their employee agreements.

 

Right. Like the radio station did. What was the purpose of the contest? They got a lot of publicity and ratings boost for $300. I think if they had asked their attorney for advice beforehand, they would have been told not to have the stupid contest. Did anybody see Larry King last night? A nurse called in and warned that people could die from drinking too much water, and the on-air personalities just joked about it, and did not pass on the warning to the contestants.

I am just shocked at the complete lack of empathy in so many of the posts in this thread. A 28 year old mother tries to win a gaming system for her children and ends up dead. The people who set up the contest should shoulder their share of the blame. The woman who died is not the only one who made a mistake. Everybody involved made mistakes.

 

If they were on-air joking about the nurses warning, how did the contestants not hear the warning, too? Someone else posted that a contestant said he was warned about risks. Wonder what risks were specifically shared.
Seems like the station would have some type of release from liability for participants to sign.

 

The winner of the contest was on Larry King Live last night, and she said that there was a radio in the room where the contest was taking place, but there was so much noise and so much going on that they could not hear the radio. The on-air personalities were not in the same room as the contestants, and that was clear from the tape that was played last night. After the nurse on the phone tried to warn of the dangers, one of them called out, "Is anybody dying in there?" When the woman who later died gave up, they said, "Bring her out here." Then they went on about how bad she looked, her stomach looked like she was pregnant, etc.

The contestants did sign release forms, but whether they were fully informed of the risk is another question. I don't think the people who set up the contest were themselves fully aware of the risks. I do think they had some responsibility to find out.

 

Wow

Cant say that I have ever heard of someone dying from drinking too much water and I consider myself to be pretty smart.

 

Bottom line,,if being stupid was a crime the jails would be packed

 

Its al about money...I am sure the family will try to get money out of this.

 

Shoulden't the participants have been responsible for informing themselves of the risks,regardless of what they were drinking?

I have as much "love and compassion" for my fellow man as anybody here and what i do for a living shows it. Stupid is still stupid and when people get stupid (even smart people get stupid ) it is their responsibility to own it.