Court Awards $16.5 Million in Wii Death

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Most people don't know water (of all things) can be lethal in high doses. "Everything in moderation" is a fairly sound proverb.

$16mil is a high premium for a human life. Medical insurers have a human being's worth down to around $1.5mil.

In a -devil's advocate- kind of way, Ignorance of your own safety is not safety from your own ignorance. The station is at fault, but so is the willing participant.

I'd say, "Darwin Award", but it's too soon.
 
2nd article by Marcus Yam in days which is misleading
First the "silent hill" article and now this "wii" death
 
I listened to the live broadcast and it is/was appalling how negligent the station was in this case. People called in to warn of the dangers of what was going on and the DJ's all laughed. And it is easy to call the contestants stupid but how many of you would ever think that water could kill you in such a manner? In retrospect it seems silly but it would not have occurred to me until someone warned me just as I am sure the same would apply to most people. The family deserved the ruling though I am not certain that the amount was justified, maybe the court decided it was justified to serve as a warning to others who might want to initiate such contests.
 
I'm not sure that the average American is aware that water consumption can be fatal. Had they just informed the contestants before-hand and had them sign a waiver, I imagine the case wouldn't have a leg to stand on. As-is I think justice was served... perhaps just a bit to an extreme.
 
Water: The silent killer.

Unless, I guess, if it's raining.

[citation][nom]Korok[/nom]2nd article by Marcus Yam in days which is misleadingFirst the "silent hill" article and now this "wii" death[/citation]

No, this one is a pretty clear case of someone being so motivated to obtain a Wii that they killed themselves.
 
I think justice was served but not to an extreme. The group holding the contest should have consulted a physician about the ramifications of such an event. I'm a somewhat intelligent person and I had no idea that this type of death was possible, with that said, a person died, how can $16.5 million be too extreme.
 
[citation][nom]domenic[/nom]Kids with stupid dead mothers should be rewarded.[/citation]

Rewarded for what? A stupid, dead, wise and beautiful woman mother who was dumb enough to endanger her life for a piece of shit gaming system that will be outdated before her body has completely decomposed? Yeah, that is really fucking smart.

"Hey, kids, your dumb ass mother is dead because she was an idiot. One day, you will turn out just as dumb. Here is USD$16.5 million, go buy yourself a truck-load of water."

Water, by itself, is not lethal. You people bitch about misinformation, then throw out your own in your stupid shit posts. Drinking too much water is lethal due to causing an imbalance of electrolytes. You can kill yourself by over-consuming sports drinks and other types of drinks that claim to have electrolytes in them(there is not an equal amount of electrolytes to fluids).

zxu8he83j: Fuck off. Seriously, just fuck off. You cannot put a monetary figure on a human life. Any non-living thing on this planet can be easily replaced, but a human life cannot. All of the resources in the world can never replace a lost person. While I do not mourn those that are stupid enough to get themselves needlessly killed, I know that the person or people that knew that idiot can never replace the idiot once they are gone. Medical insurers have no such figure, so spread your bullshit elsewhere.

deadlockedworld: There is nothing wrong with the judicial system. Just because the outcome was contrary to your idiotic dreams of what the United States should be, it does not make the stance of the system wrong. If you replace the drinking game with a murder game, then you would probably be feigning outrage at the radio station.

If the DJs told the contestants to find a random person and kill them before anyone else kills their target, then the radio station would be guilty of numerous crimes. Someone, probably a producer, one of the DJs, or numerous people, took the idea to someone who makes programming decisions and that person/those people gave the green light to hold the contest. Since those people were operating the business with the consent of the owners, that puts any decisions made by those people the fault of the company and the actually people, simultaneously.

If you take away the contest, then no harm would have fallen on the [idiot](at least not up to that point). You cannot argue about whether or not this idiot mother might have gotten herself killed at a later date due to being dumb, as that is not within the scope of the justice system.
 
[citation][nom]jochamus[/nom]It is also kinda sad to not know that this is very unhealthy for you, and that some one who has 3 children should set a good example and not do dangerous things just to obtain a bloody Wii..[/citation]
People who have three children are not very intelligent or well-informed.
 
Some poor soul is ignorant of the dangers of water intoxication and enters this contest and dies as a result. It turns out this is not a freak accident but the contest itself is deadly dangerous. Ultimately, it was the radio stations responsibility for encouraging this incredibly dangerous behavior. Any American who fails to see this scares the $#!% out of me. I guess to them we are all just sheep to be exploited with no accountability from corporations that already have so much control in this country.
 
Damn, domenic. It seems pretty idiotic that you are so freaking upset and crazed in your post.

Might just be kind of funny and ironic if your apparent extreme outrage (based on your post) causes you to blow a gasket.
 
Yet another headline slanted to negatively impact video gaming. Gets more hits than "$16.5M awarded for negligent radio station". I agree w/the major, the recording of the broadcast was terrible. Wikipedia alone would have told them drinking too much water can desalinize you.

To the earlier poster, it wasn't that she felt she was going to explode, she didn't have enough salt content left in her body and it completely screwed up her electrical system and caused her death. I believe that was the basic gist of the situation, it's been almost 3 years.

And yes, she was doing it for her kids. I'm all for personal responsibility, but in this case the radio station was terribly negligent.
 
Stupidity isn't be rewarding, it's being punished. You can't expect middle aged housewives to know the dangers of water intoxication. In fact you can't expect MOST people to know the dangers of water intoxication because it seems like such an odd thing. You can't live without water. I guarantee whoever decided to host this competition was made aware of how dangerous it was on multiple occasions but decided to ignore it because they couldn't think of a better idea. The person at fault is NOT the mother but whoever decided it was okay to have such a competition. This is actually a lawsuit I 100% completely agree with.
 
[citation][nom]SSquirrel[/nom]...she didn't have enough salt content left in her body and it completely screwed up her electrical system and caused her death. I believe that was the basic gist of the situation, it's been almost 3 years.[/citation]

To quote the philosopher Philip J Fry... "I can explain. See it used to be milk, and... well, time makes fools of us all."
 
[citation][nom]domenic[/nom]Kids with stupid dead mothers should be rewarded.[/citation]

to the point they dont have to work for the rest of their lives? more people die for far less stupid acts and get nothing.
 
This makes me want to go run in a store and fall and break my leg, so I can sue the store for not telling me to quit running. I want my millions in check by middle of next week, kk thanks.
 
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