Girl dies playing water poker

A 12-year-old girl has tragically died in Sweden after playing 'water poker'. The death was due to brain damage as a result of consuming too much water.

The Local reports on a sad accident as the result of game played by school children on the Åland Islands. The children were playing a variant of poker, where each loser was required to take a forfeit: drinking a glass of water. During the course of the game, the child who later died consumed some six liters of water (nearly 13 pints). The child was a from the town of Nystad in Finland. After the game had long-finished the teachers in charge did not notice that the girl was suffering from water intoxication until they undertook a routine headcount. The girl later experienced nausea and vomiting, according to Topix. The girl was rushed into hospital on the island and then later transferred to the Uppsala University Hospital on the Swedish mainland. It was at the hospital in Sweden that the girl died, and was declared brain dead. According to About Chemistry, over consumption of water can alter the salt balance in the bloodstream. The effect is to draw water into the brain, which cuts off the booed flow to the brain, leading to brain death. Johan Valtysson, head of the intensive care ward at the Uppsala hospital, is quoted by UPI as stating that water poker is "a truly dangerous game."