Family of "Wee for Wii" Victim Awarded $16m

[Ironic]

Water... Poisoning? What is that and how does someone go about getting it?

Its to do with a process called osmosis.

Basically, water moves from an area of more water (concentration) to an area of less water, across the membranes of your cells, until they're roughly equal in water concentration.

When you drink water, it basically ends up in your blood, and when its at the right amount, your blood cells, and your tissue/muscle cells stay the right shape due to having enough water inside and outside the cells.

When you get dehydrated, imagine that there's "less" water in your blood, but it HAS to stay equal in amount on both sides, and so the water moves from the cell that it is in, into your blood stream (this includes blood cells). When there's not enough water in the cell, it collapses in on itself, like letting air out of a balloon.

The opposite is true for over hydration, water floods INTO your cells, from your blood, swelling them to the point of breaking (rupturing), like filling a water balloon with so much water it breaks.


To be honest, I don't see why they thought this would be a good competition in the first place, or at least have someone with medical experience on site first. 7.5 litres of water is a HUGE amount in one sitting, it takes common sense to realise water has to go somewhere, and if its not being peed?

 

[Mr. Fister]

Do you guys think we could dial the insensitivity down a little bit?

And it's nice to see the radio station really paying for what they did, even though no amount of money can bring back a lost loved one. Yes, Mrs. Strange may have some part in her own death for not knowing about the dangers of drinking too much water in such a short amount of time, but the radio station is truly the one to blame here. Not only did the DJs ignore the warnings that they were told while on the air, but they also didn't bother giving Mrs. Strange any medical attention when she complained she was feeling ill. That is truly being negligent of others well-being, and those people deserve exactly what they get.

 

[thiosk]

gaming kills!

ban game consoles!

 

[Captain Pancake]

Dude, that's messed up.

 

[Mr. Grey]

Mrs. Strange... Mrs. Strange... Oh my god! Doctor Strange's wife just died?! That's horrible...

Wait... That's not Doctor Strange in the picture... She was cheating on him?! That's even worse!

Eh, that was a bad joke... but moving on to the point at hand. She died, came in second of all things and in the end the family comes out ahead. Ten employees are fired at the radio station, they are now probably labeled Death's Station or something more witty, and they have to pay $16 Million which'll probably bankrupt them at some point... I'd call that fair.

The greater of the idiots isn't the one who decides to go along, it's the one who decides to lead people off the cliff.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to wash my mouth out with soap, that was the worst joke I could ever have come up with...

 

[SnipErlite]

Well I see the argument for why the family blames the competition people, but..........well, she knew (or should have known) drinking so much can be dangerous when she went in for the competition. The family blame the competition-runners but it wasn't reallllly their fault.

Besides, how a ton of money helps the bereavement of losing her I'll never know =/

 

[johnman]

I wonder if they ever did get a wii?
This just goes to show, bad puns can, and will, kill.

 

[Tdc2182]

This just proves that in America, you can be held liable for other peoples idiocy. Gods help us all.

I remember this story I long time ago. I dont think we should be blaming the mom. It was a stupid contest and not many people know that drinking to much wateris bad.

 

[CompanionCube]

"sorry your mother is dead, but let us pay for it"

 

[Slayer_2]

Edit: Seems a large number of people think this was totally the fault of the Mother making bad decisions. I have to ask how many of you thinking that actually knew you could die from drinking to much water before you heard about this.

I did actually. I heard about some girl who died after constantly drinking water for a few hours. Not only is it her fault, the family seems like a bunch of greedy assholes suing the company. "Oh our mother/wife is dead... Oh well, we can still get money out of the situation!" I can't ever imagine ANYONE thinking that holding in your piss is good for you either. She shouldn't have expected death, but seriously, participating in such a contest sounds embarrassing at best. I'd likely piss myself running for the washroom.

Pretty silly idea for a radio competition, mind you why couldn't they have just done an old "Whirl 'til you hurl" rollercoaster marathon competition to see who gets the console.

Then someone would smash their brain against their skull or have a heart-attack. Then their family would sue for millions.

 

[Collymilad08]

Holding such a contestt was stupid and irresponsible.

However I don't think the family should have got anything, as at the end of the day it WAS her own stupidity that killed her. The contest organisers just gave her a platform.

 

[Jumplion]

Water poisoning? Really? Well, you learn something new every day. Huh, odd thing to happen...

I don't get how people can say that the woman was stupid, the worst thing I would think of drinking a gallon or 2 or water would be that you would have to go to the bathroom for a VERY long time.

 

[InsertWittyName]

Should've diluted the water with beer.

Should of diluted the stupidity with a gunshot to the head.

 

[Rigs83]

I can't call a mother of three stupid because she died in an ill conceived contest held by idiot dj because she did all to please the children she loved. She and the radio station were ignorant of the danger in the contest and I doubt any one here has ever heard of water poisoning. Parents love their children (most of the time) and will put themselves in terrible "get mauled by a panda" danger [http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-01/09/content_17079732.htm] just to make the ungrateful bastards happy

 

[GhostKnifeFish]

The Wii Will Never Be Worth That...

 

[kronoset]

On the plus side, I want to say that it's great that she would go so far for the sake of her children and even teach them about bodily limits...on the other hand, there are now 3 children without a mother who learned the lesson that if you do something incredibly stupid and risky, you can get payed for it. If they'd have a contest for the longest survivor of self-inflicted stab wounds, would she have done that too?

 

[Rigs83]

Holding such a contestt was stupid and irresponsible.

However I don't think the family should have got anything, as at the end of the day it WAS her own stupidity that killed her. The contest organisers just gave her a platform.

Hey you ever see a kid beg and plead and throw a tantrum just to get whatever the Disney channel told them they need in order to exist. I have no doubt your parents did something stupid just to make you happy and strop the tantrums you would throw. That's why your parents' want you to give them grand kids, so you can suffer as they suffered.

 

[kronoset]

I can't call a mother of three stupid because she died in an ill conceived contest held by idiot dj because she did all to please the children she loved. She and the radio station were ignorant of the danger in the contest and I doubt any one here has ever heard of water poisoning. Parents love their children (most of the time) and will put themselves in terrible "get mauled by a panda" danger [http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-01/09/content_17079732.htm] just to make the ungrateful bastards happy

So just tell those kids that it's fine to be ignorant to the point where it kills you. Tell them that their mother died to get them a toy. And please, this goes beyond ignorance. Bodily functions are the way they are for a reason. Whether or not you know what they do doesn't excuse depriving yourself of them. Just because you average person might not be able to illustrate oxygen's path through the bloodstream doesn't mean that they can't figure out that asphyxiation is a bad idea.

 

[hotacidbath]

If I recall correctly (and I could be wrong since it's been two years) there was a nurse on the scene who warned the radio station about the possibility of water poisoning but the radio hosts neglected to tell the contestants about the dangers involved. If that was the case, and once again I could be wrong since it's been two years, then that's probably what the lawsuit was based on.

Either way, my condolences go to the kids in all of this.

 

[kronoset]

Water poisoning? Really? Well, you learn something new every day. Huh, odd thing to happen...

I don't get how people can say that the woman was stupid, the worst thing I would think of drinking a gallon or 2 or water would be that you would have to go to the bathroom for a VERY long time.

now, what's the point of urinating?

expelling waste from the body.

now what happens if those toxins and wastes stay in your body?

I knew that before I even took an elementary school science class.