Case Study Example: Water Can Kill

In 2007, 28-year-old Jennifer Strange from California was found dead in her home hours after she took part in station KDND’s radio contest “Hold your Wee for a Wii”. She was promised by the radio DJs to win a Wii console. The contest rules were to drink as much water as you could without using the restroom. They would give everyone an eight-ounce glass of water every 15-20 minutes, which meant that Jennifer and other contestants had drank more than a gallon of water in those few hours. She had gone home after the contest ended and had a severe headache and her stomach was bloated. After a couple of hours, her mother found her dead on the floor in her home. Jennifer had what is called “water intoxication”. With Jennifer’s age and gender, she was supposed to drink nine cups of water a day, which is 72 ounces. She drank almost 200 ounces of water within a few hours. Jennifer Strange died during the “Hold your Wee for a Wii” contest by water intoxication because homeostasis wasn’t occurring in her body. 

Jennifer died because homeostasis wasn’t occurring in her body. Homeostasis is the body’s need to reach and maintain a certain state of equilibrium. More specifically, homeostasis is the body’s tendency to monitor and maintain internal states, such as body temperature and blood sugar, at stable levels. Our bodies have set states for many things like weight, temperature, thirst, hunger, and sleep. When the level is unbalanced, either too little or too much, homeostasis works to correct it. For example, our bodies sweat when we are hot and shiver when we are cold. Homeostasis involves physiological and behavioral reactions. For example, when you are cold you might wrap yourself in a blanket or make yourself a warm drink. Homeostasis did not occur in Jennifer’s body because the extreme amounts of water she was consuming diluted her blood and the osmolarity in her body decreased resulting in overhydration. In the article “Homeostasis: The Underappreciated and Far Too Often Ignored Central Organizing Principle of Physiology”, states “Homeostasis has become the central unifying concept of physiology and is defined as a self-regulating process by which an organism can maintain internal stability while adjusting to changing external conditions”(Billman 2). Jennifer Strange died because the excessive amount of liquids she consumed in these couple of hours disrupted the normal homeostasis in her body.  The balance with the water in her body was not there, which did not allow for the normal function of the organisms. 

Our bodies need to take in and release a certain amount of water each day. We need about three-fourths of a gallon of water in our bodies at all times for our cells to function properly. The water we drink per day is absorbed by our intestines and circulates through the body in the form of body fluids such as blood. According to “The Human Body and Water”, it states, “They deliver oxygen and nutrients to the cells, and take away waste materials, which are then eliminated with urination”(Otsuka Pharmaceutical 1). The fact that Jennifer drank one and a half gallons of water in three hours and did not urinate means that her cells were not properly functioning. Her cells started to swell because of the amount of water in them, which damaged her organs causing her death.

Jennifer Strange could not have been saved from this casualty of water intoxication. With her condition, immediate medical help or an IV sodium drip could have saved her. The IV that could have been put in her arm would balance out the dilution of her blood that made her die and she would have slowly been saved. But, since she went home afterward there would have been no way she could survive this tragedy. According to Insider Exclusive, it states, “Immediate medical care might have saved with an IV sodium drip to counteract the water, the doctor testified. Instead, Strange went home and collapsed. She was found dead about six hours later”(Insider Exclusive, 4). Jennifer could not have been saved because she did not get the immediate professional help she needed. Jennifer’s judgment was harmed by the water intoxication, and so she drove herself home after the contest thinking nothing of it. These classic symptoms of water intoxication were not clicking in her head, so she did not seek help. 

Jennifer Strange died during the “Hold your Wee for a Wii” contest by water intoxication because homeostasis wasn’t occurring in her body. If Jennifer were able to use the restroom during this long period, her cells would not have burst and she would have not died. The radio station DJs should have done more research and had professional help at the contest to prevent this from ever happening in the first place.