You can't necessarily put the blame on the contestants. They are assuming, either consciously or subconsciously, that this stunt is safe. As I said, someone at that station should have looked into the possible ramifications that ingesting large quantities of water could have on a person. It only makes sense...doubly so in an area where a similar tragedy already took place!
If the contest was to drink a bunch of water and someone died because they choked while they were drinking, obviously that would be a totally different story. That's no one's fault but Fate and Chance. The point is that the cause of this woman's death is directly related to the stunt. Therefore, whomever was responsible for green-lighting that stunt
(the radio station), is at fault. I don't think that the average person knows that it is unhealthy to ingest too much water.
UPDATE: I went ahead and subscribed to the Sacramento Bee, the local newspaper where this story was originally reported. The most recent news is that the morning show that held the contest has been removed from the air for an undetermined amount of time while they investigate the ramifications that this incident will have on the station and the show.
In addition, I found this little blurb in their "Health and Fitness" section rather interesting regarding a comment that
BRODYMAN made about Gatorade:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Sacramento Bee
There also may be little protection in switching from plain water to sports drinks fortified with electrolytes and glucose. The 2005 study of marathoners, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found equal levels of hyponatremia among runners who drank water and those who used sports drinks.
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