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Posted at 1:00 AM EDT (0500 GMT) Aug. 8th, 2004 -- In August of 2002, Donna Hering died riding a 24 foot high waterslide at a Lorain County waterpark. She died after hitting the water face first. The park could possibly be responsible for not enforcing a weight policy, as the woman weighed 410 lbs. Posted in the park are 15 safety guidelines issued by the designer of the slides, but one (and most likely the most important one) was omitted. This guideline read as "Capacity one person at a time, not to exceed 300 pounds." However, included in the guidelines is that the guest "be in good health with no heart conditions" The Hering family has filed a complaint in Lorain County Common Pleas Court against that of the manufacturer and the park citing negligence and maliciousness resulting in an untimely death. The Lorain County coroner, Dr. Paul Matus, ruled the death as a cause of sudden cardiac arrest. This occurred from the powerful splash face first. The coroner also found that Mrs. Hering had cardiomegaly, something found common in most athletes. Read the full story at The Morning Journal Original story: WKYC-Cleveland
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sfft_2108
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 5021
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Why would a 400 pound women go on a water slide anyways? Plus if the park would post a sign saying guest over 300 pounds can't right it, the people over 300 would get pissed and try to make a big deal.
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| 8/8/2004 1:03 AM |
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Kyle L
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 6730
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Monay monay monaaay
Well, there is hard evidence for the parks side. If they did correctly place signs around saying "Do not ride this ride if you have heart problems" should be a good piece of evidence. If they do have signs, it's rider ignorance.
However, they should've paid attention to her weight.
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| 8/8/2004 1:46 AM |
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sfne stinks
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 10560
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Was this in ohio?
does anyone know what kind of waterslide it was?
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| 8/8/2004 12:40 PM |
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Andrew Polcyn
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 10165
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Yes Stinks, this was in Ohio. Oberlin actually. You could say its between CP and GL.
Anyhow, since the woman did have an enlarged heart, perhaps the woman did not know of the condition. That is entirely possible.
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| 8/8/2004 6:37 PM |
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Jill Anne
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 568
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Have any of you ever tried to guess somebody's weight? honestly? especially somebody larger?
I'd be most of you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 350 or 400 pound person, or even a 300 pound person and 350 pound person. It depends *so* much on how much muscle the person has (that's probably under a lot of fat). You just *can't* ask somebody to be weighed before they get on a slide.
On the other hand, hospital beds have built in scales. If we want to actually enforce these weight limits, maybe they could be built into coaster seats and the starts of water slides too. *shrug* not that I'd really want that (cause then rides would be closed down to have scales fixed, blech)
~me.
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| 8/8/2004 8:13 PM |
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Phil
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 9164
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I have to side with woman's family on this one, she should have never been allowed on the ride. She should have known better though.
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| 8/8/2004 11:07 PM |
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snafu
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 253
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Am I the only one to notice that she hit FACE FIRST? How many water slides, especially city owned, do you go down FACE FIRST?
I've seen folks do it on sliding boards at private homes, but a water slide at a public park? C'mon.
Think that her heading in to the water had anything to do with it?
Also..."negligence and maliciousness"? Please...negligence maybey, but maliciousness? That's right, the park system and the manufacturer built the ride to kill people.
This sounds like another frivilous law suit to me. (Well...to some degree it does.)
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| 8/9/2004 9:41 AM |
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coasterlove
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 6396
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This seems weird to me. The park might be somewhat responsible if the ride/waterslide was only intended for those under 300 pounds but didn't have a sign posted stating that to the public. Another thing, was this slide intended for people to ride face first?
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| 8/10/2004 4:33 AM |
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DerMorgan
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 144
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Hello? what about being responsible for herself???
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| 8/10/2004 6:09 PM |
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Magnum Robert
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 3196
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I agree with Jill regarding judging someone's weight.
As for the lady landing face first into the water, that does not mean she started down the slide face first. She could have been flipped around during the course of the slide---that's happened to me before. Am I right? I don't know---I wasn't there. However, I will not automatically assume the lady first entered the slide head first.
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| 8/13/2004 3:23 PM |
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