I"m just playing devils advocate with the thread. It would be safer for the competitor since they couldn't do a 20lbs drop right before. The organs take a toll over time.
I've found that I can fairly easily cut 12-15 lbs and gain it all back without IV's before the meet. I compete at 220, so we are talking 230-235 down to 220 generally. It's not a big deal.
However, I had a meet where I let myself get up to 237, cut down, felt like shit the next day and bombed out. Those extra 2 lbs made a huge difference.
It's when you get guys like Duffin cutting from 260-270 down to 220, that real bad shit can start happening. I heard from a very big name lifter that when Duffin made his last cut to try to break the total record (he bombed out on deads btw), he went deaf for like a week in one ear.
I guess my moral of the story is 12-15 lbs can be cut fairly easily and safely unless you're a 165 lol. Start getting up around 20+ lbs and things start getting real...
Last - if I need a diuretic, I find thiazide does the job well and isn't as hard core as lasix. Have a bodybuilding friend who lost some kidney function from lasix...