nhradiochild said:
Death from water intoxication is too prevalent to be ignorant of.
What? Too
prevalent? How many people die of voluntary "water overdose" every year? The fact is, too much of ANYTHING can be dangerous, [insert sarcasm] even happiness, right [end sarcasm]? I have never heard of this before...(someone dieing from drinking too much water, without extenuating circumstances such as the hazing incident)...so "prevalent" may be relative to one's own knowledge of the subject (like a doctor, or athlete).
The fault I see here, by the staff/station putting on the promotion, was that they didn't have a medic on staff to check everyone's health BEFORE, during and AFTER. This could have played a big part in making sure nothing went wrong, and noone got hurt. What if someone's blood pressure was out of wack, or someone was on certain medication? Maybe they (a health care professional) could have monitored everyone's electrolyte (im)balance, which from what I read is the basis for water intoxication. Any type of "endurance" contest should have a trained health professional to check and monitor the contestants. Some people may not be fit to participate to begin with, and there should be someone on site to determine that. That's where the fault by the staff/station is, in my opinion.
The problem with that though, is if a health professional pulls someone out of the contest because they deem it unsafe for the contestant, the contestant may choose to sue as well, claiming some unfairness on the part of the radio station; that the contest was fixed. So, it seems "endurance contests" on the radio may have seen their last contest. I suppose "Fear Factor" will continue on until someone dies, and then everyone screams [after the fact] that the contests are too dangerous, the network should have kown better etc etc etc, even though it was an accident.
That said, I believe it is also encumbant upon the contestant to know their own limits. When I go work out, my trainer could push me til I die ( I could have a heart attack or dehydrate or something)...he doesn't know what is going on with my internal organs, especially if I tell him I'm okay, "give me more". I am the one who has to know my limits. So, how can the station staff be expected to know what the contestants limits are if the contestant keeps saying "I'm okay, I can drink more"...No one could have seen this outcome. All usual symptoms of "
HYPONATREMIA" were not evident here. But, again, I agree there is accountability on the Entercom staff to have had a trained health professional there to ensure the people who were participating were healthy, and to monitor how much water was being (over)consumed. If there is a way to check the electrolyte balance, it
could have prevented this tragedy, but then again maybe not. Sometimes you can't control fate (she could have crashed her car on her way home)...And I believe that God will make something good come out of this tragic event. He always does (non-believers: rather than get into a religious arguement, simply disregard my Faith based comment. It is just my "opinion").
I can't imagine that the staff really thought anyone would die, which is why they were joking about it. It seemed, to them, too far fetched...they were expecting the participants to quit if it became to painful, or to throw up (I have drank too much water at once and thrown up...). Some people's threashold for pain will take them to the brink of death, and beyond as we have witnessed. Everything I read on "Water Intoxication" or "
HYPONATREMIA" has led me to believe that it is something that would normally only affect athletes and their need to replentish...not just water, but sodium too, during physical exertion, or that it can affect people in other "special circumstances", not just sitting drinking LOTS of water. The wikipedia site had listed
extreme examples of water intoxication (the guy that was hazed, girls o.d.ing on ecstacy...these are extreme examples!) but nothing like this event (note: the wikipedia has been updated with this event).
And what about the winner? He didn't fall victim to water intoxication did he?...I imagine he drank as much water as Mrs. Strange did, yet he is still alive. It goes to show that people have different levels of tolerance, and an untrained eye cannot see the difference. Could a health professional on site prevented this tragic death? If I were he (the winner), I would ask the Strange Family if I could give them the Wii, although, if I were one of the children, I don't know that I would want that reminder of how my mom died...catch 22 there...
I also don't think it is right for people to go out and be sue happy...for example, why not track down the "nurse" that called and hold her accountable for not stopping the event by calling the police if she knew how dangerous it was. Do you see how rediculous this gets? And holding Nintendo accountable....please. They had nothing to do with the contestant choosing to push her own limits, or the station's lack of responsibility to have a trained health care professional on site to monitor the contest. We are too litigious. Stick to the immediate responsible parties.
Everyone is focused on retribution towards Entercom. It seems as though the children have been forgotten in all this mess. Mrs. Strange's death is a tragedy that we all have to learn from. I think what would be appropriate is for Entercom to set up a trust fund for the children. It would show good will, and that they too are sorry for this tragic accident that happened during an event on their station. Maybe that could curtail a long drawn out lawsuit where the children have to be involved and reminded daily that their mom died trying to win THEM a Wii...I would feel horrible if I were one of those kids, to the point of feeling guilty (especially if I had begged for one for Christmas...) My prayers go to the children, that they don't get dragged through the courts...
