The decision from the Sarasota County School District in Florida to pay the families of three deceased students $200,000 each ends the long, unusual story that began four years ago when the students died in separate incidents after getting hypnotized by then-principal George Kenney.
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After the students committed suicide, the North Port High School principal admitted to hypnotizing all three of the teenagers.
The 16-year-old football player was killed when he veered off a highway as he drove home from a painful dentist visit, the Herald-Tribune wrote.
Palumbo, who also committed suicide, and Freeman, who died in a auto crash, were also hypnotised.
An investigation found that Kenney had hypnotized as many as 75 students, staff members and others from 2006 until McKinley’s death.
Kenney resigned in 2012 after being placed on leave the year before, and was charged with two misdemeanours including practising therapeutic hypnosis without a license.
He served one year of probation, during which he was not allowed to practice unlicensed hypnosis. “It’s probably the worst loss that can happen to a parent is to lose a child, especially needlessly because you had someone who made a decision to perform medical services on kids without a license”, an attorney for all three families, Damian Mallard, told the Tribune.
“He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it”, Mallard added. He now apparently operates a bed-and-breakfast in North Carolina.
And a few families said the sessions helped.
‘The thing that is the most disappointing to them is he never apologized, never admitted wrongdoing and is now living comfortably in retirement in North Carolina with his pension, ‘ he said.
The families of three schoolchildren who died after being hypnotised by their headteacher are to receive nearly £400,000 in compensation.
Complicating the story: There doesn’t appear to be any scientific evidence that hypnosis can increase the risk of suicide, nor does any coverage of the story suggest that Kenney had ill intentions or made any identifiable errors while performing hypnosis sessions, which are a relatively common form of therapy.
“I would say that he was in a distant phase”, Lyle said in his deposition.
Freeman was killed after he hypnotised himself through a technique Kenney taught him.
Brittany Palumbo asked for hypnosis to improve her SAT scores.
But the heartbroken parents claim they did not sue the school district for money.
After her numbers didn’t improve in 2011, Palumbo became upset.
Brett Wilson, the father of North Port senior Casey Wilson, said Kenney’s hypnosis has helped his son relax when shooting free throws on the basketball court and taking tests.
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“We are satisfied with the overall outcome”, the parents of Brittany Palumbo said in a statement, “although this is a very hollow victory”.
