Nation IN BRIEF : ILLINOIS : Intoxication Blamed on Too Much Water

A medical journal details the first known case in which an employee showed signs of intoxication after drinking a large quantity of water to make herself urinate for a drug test. A 40-year-old flight attendant in California drank three liters of water in three hours when she was unable to produce urine for the test, according to the report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Assn., published in Chicago. The woman was still unable to urinate and was sent home. Eight hours later she was taken to a Burlingame, Calif., hospital after she demonstrated confusion, slurred speech and an unsteady gait. Doctors concluded that she was suffering from water intoxication--a condition caused by drinking too much water.