The WTF? Story of the Day

Uhhhhmmmmmm, okay. Now, I've heard it all.

Danielle Pilot (16) died from stress of caring for a computerized doll for a school assignment

A British student died from a rare heart condition after becoming stressed while looking after a baby doll. Danielle Pilot, 16, was tasked with caring for after the model infant as part of an assignment at Sussex's Northbrook College. But she became highly distressed and exhausted after caring for the doll for just 12 hours.

After reportedly being woken every hour during a tormented night's sleep, Danielle slipped into unconsciousness and died just hours after returning the doll to her child development tutors in December last year. The simulators are fitted with internal computers that make the baby "cry" at random intervals to give teens an early taste of parenthood.

Father David Pilot told his daughter's inquest that Danielle appeared "pale" and suffered from a racing pulse after caring for the baby. "It was very, very stressful and in the morning she looked like a new mum herself," The Sun reported Mr Pilot as saying at the hearing. "I question whether someone with her heart condition should have been given one of these virtual babies." But the inquest also heard that Danielle's condition meant she could have died at any moment.

An autopsy showed that her heart muscle had thickened due to her condition. "Stress and anxiety from the baby are factors that could have worsened her condition but it would be speculative to say it was a definite cause of the events that happened the following morning," Dr Elijah Behr said. The cause of death was officially recorded as natural causes stemming from a heart irregularity known as arrhythmia.