Posted on 01/17/2007 5:33:52 AM PST by SpringheelJack
Exactly! Two things here: morons at the radio station conducted a stupid and dangerous contest and members of the public willingly participated in a stupid and dangerous contest, risking their lives just to win a video game machine.
Manslaughtering bastards. Let 'em take their release in front of a jury and see how much cover they get from it.
This was in 2005 at Chico State U, less than 90 minutes away from Sacramento. Along with all the transcript goodies here, the inevitable civil suit will show that the station spent several days at the time on that incident.
And you're right, if I know something is dangerous and I can get you to sign a paper saying I have no responsibility, that paper usually means nothing in court.
I don't know how far up it can go. My dad has his own business and even though he can't be everywhere all the time, it is ultimately up to my dad to make sure everything is up to code, etc. Even if the employee has been trained and does something wrong/stupid, it is my dad who will pay for it. It is why he has several foremen in different areas. Isn't it up to the station managers to know what is going on in their station? Surely this contest was brought up in meetings and had to get approved. I am not on the side of lawsuits, this case seems to show a disregard for the contestant's safety though.
Sorry, but my sympathy is completely with this woman. The guys at the radio station set this up and should have been fully aware of the dangers. They claim they were. As the excerpts from the radio broadcast show, they minimized the danger to the contestants, insisting that if they did ingest too much water then their body would fix the situation by vomiting it up. All the woman wanted was to get her three kids something nice; the radio station people fed her a lot of BS to keep her in and their negligence is why she isn't here today.
Maybe one of the doctors on FR can help me out here, but I'm not certain that it's even possible to drink two gallons of water without urinating. Can the stomach and bladder even hold that much?
I'm still not convinced she died of water intoxication. I suspect that she had another health issue.
I bet no contest participant took water toxicity seriously. I mean, come on, how can someone die from water poisoning - people swim in the stuff! But seriously, water IS poisonous if consumed in large enough quantities because your electrolytes get diluted to the point where your body, especially your nervous system, doesn't function properly. I really think the participants and the radio station didn't understand the seriousness of this issue. And I hope the radio station personalities involved, plus the station itself, pays a heavy, heavy price.
Also .. signing a piece of paper accepting responsibility is one thing
Ignoring the signs of a person in need of help and at health risk are a completely different matter
This women was laying on the floor shaking and pale
No, no, no, just no. No.
As part of the chemical safety training I conduct for the R&D facility where I work, this subject comes up all the time. Toxicity of any substance depends on the does. And water is used as an example because people can consume enough water that their electroytes become so diluted that they cease to funciton and they die. But the quantity required is large - like a gallon or two. There are more cases than just the two mentioned here.
No, it's not possible to drink that much? No, she didn't have any other health issue? No what?
I hope there's neither successful criminal nor civil action against anyone involved. This will high-profile enough that people might be inclined to take more responsibility for themselves as a result.
I'm fairly familiar with water toxicity. When I worked at an Army basic training battalion in '98, our sister company had a soldier die of water toxicity. However, for that to happen, you have to drink a ridiculous amount of water, and the electrolytes have to exit your body, either through sweat, urination, or possibly vomiting.
I doubt she could've drank even one gallon without urinating or vomiting, much less two. I simply suspect that there was more at work here than just water toxicity.
That is when they crossed the line and became a criminal act. Any reasonable person would have stop providing the products. Instead they chose higher ratings over the health conditions of a human.
No don't even think about "another health issue".
"I doubt she could've drank even one gallon without urinating or vomiting, much less two. I simply suspect that there was more at work here than just water toxicity."
How are these two statements consistent with one another?
Yes, I am cynical about the legal system.
"I doubt she could've drank even one gallon without urinating or vomiting, much less two. I simply suspect that there was more at work here than just water toxicity."
How are these two statements consistent with one another?
Simple. I know what it takes to die of water toxicity (based on the first statement) and I'm not certain that what this woman did was enough to cause her death by water poisoning.
To die from water toxicity, you must flush out all your electrolytes. They don't just evaporate, they have to exit your body. Typically, when someone dies of water toxicity, they are continually drinking water while either sweating or urinating profusely. IOW, they're replacing the lost fluids, but not replacing the lost salts/electrolytes. It takes a LOT of water to do this - at least a couple gallons being flushed through your system.
People can't generally hold more than 1 to 1.5 quarts of water in their stomachs, with about a pint, more or less, in the bladder. That doesn't come up to anywhere near a gallon, much less two. Let's say, total, your body can hold about two quarts before you will involuntarily urinate. Two quarts isn't enough to cause water toxicity.
The article says they think she drank between 1 and 2 gallons. It's physically impossible to drink that much without urinating. So, given the following:
-the point of the contest was to drink without urinating; and
-she could not have drank enough water to be toxic without urinating (or at least profusely sweating for an extended period of time) and drinking more water; and
-she had not apparently urinated, since there would be no point in continuing to drink water after that;
Therefore, there may be some other medical reason in play besides water toxicity.
You can drink too much water. You are forgetting that the water drank has to go through organs in order to finally be urinated. Your system doesn't keep up with the amount being put into it. Think of a dam that has a release. Water will simply back up until it causes flooding. Only in this case the flooding is the dilution of electrolytes to the point that your entire system shuts down. This happens frequently to triathletes/marathon runners and medical personnel at those races know what to look for. As soon as syptoms are presented and recognized, they are treated immediately with IV's.
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