Too much water can kill you.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52666- 2003Nov17.html
SMU Student in Hospital After Hazing
By PENNY COCKERELL
The Associated Press
Monday, November 17, 2003; 3:19 PM
DALLAS - A 21-year-old student at Southern Methodist University lay in critical condition Monday after chugging water in what authorities say may have been a fraternity hazing.
Braylon Curry, a pledge with Alpha Phi Alpha, drank an unknown amount of water from a gallon container early Saturday during an off-campus competition with fraternity members and was hospitalized hours later after becoming dazed and incoherent, police said.
The fraternity, which only this spring was reinstated at SMU after a three-year suspension for hazing, has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
The latest incident also appeared to be hazing, "but until we know the details, we can't make that final judgment," said Jim Caswell, vice president of student affairs.
According to police, some alcohol was consumed at the competition, but Curry drank only water.
Caswell refused to discuss specifics on the fraternity's prior hazing incident. But "in allowing them to return, there was a complete understanding they would comply with all the policies and their own national policies," he said.
The day before the incident, the school held an anti-hazing event on campus and produced a half-page advertisement that defined hazing and outlined its consequences, Caswell said.
Curry, a junior business major, transferred from Austin College to SMU this fall.
Excessive consumption of water can be fatal, causing pulmonary edema, a condition where water enters the lungs, and hyponatremia, a sodium imbalance. Drinking too much water too quickly can swell brain cells and caused pressure in the skull.
"Lethargy, a feeling of tiredness, confusion, even a stupor or coma in the later stages can occur," said Dr. Greg Blomquist, an emergency room doctor at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
Excessive water consumption was blamed in the March death of Walter Dean Jenning, an 18-year-old student at Plattsburgh State University in New York. Ten students were expelled and eight others were ordered suspended. Authorities said fraternity members forced Jennings and a fellow pledge to drink water through a funnel until they vomited. |
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