Who acted irresponsibly: Strange or KDND?

Apr 5, 2007 09:52 GMT  ·  By

The whole world was shocked when Sacramento based KDND radio station held their "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest, that got a woman killed. Millions of people started to debate the mishap, some of them not even knowing what water intoxication was, but most accused KDND's DJs, who were considered irresponsible, in regards to the Jenifer Strange's aggravating condition, by the passing of every hour. Strange's family filed a lawsuit against KDND and yesterday, the prosecutors have decided: "There were no observable indications or symptoms that Jennifer Strange was experiencing a serious medical emergency which would have required station employees to seek or administer medical aid to her."

Some of those who tuned in to YouTube to hear the contest's recording, might find this a little upsetting, myself included. Callers even told KDND that contestants could get water intoxication from drinking all that water. Close to the end of the contest, with each passing hour, Jenifer Strange's condition was aggravating considerably. According to one of the contestants, the woman had drunk at least five bottles in the first hour and even more afterwards. After the contest, Strange complained of a severe headache. Her co-worker at Radiological Associates of Sacramento said: "She was crying and that was the last anyone had heard from her." Strange also talked to fellow contestant (Ybarra) during the contest about her three kids back home and how she was doing it for them.

Just so I don't ever see another article comment saying WTF is water intoxication, here it is, in short: Water intoxication is a potentially disturbance in brain function (remember the headache) when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by very rapid water intake.

Still, why weren't KDND's employees charged with anything? Although they could have easily considered getting a physician to monitor the situation during the contest, prosecutors considered that the station didn't act irresponsibly. Further more, the woman died hours later after the contest was over at her place. When she left there, all she had reported was a headache, which isn't that uncommon, it happens to people all the time. There's also talk that Strange was the person acting irresponsibly, which isn't that far fetched either. I mean, we get that she loved her 3 kids a lot, desperately wanting to win them a Nintendo Wii, but when your body says no, it means NO! Anyway, just so everyone knows, nobody's been charged with anything and Strange's death remains an unfortunate happening, nothing more, nothing less, an accident if you will. A pity.