# High School Principal George Kenney hypnotized and school pays $600,000 to families of three. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817 "2015-10-07T14:57:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/1 "2015-10-07T14:57:45Z")
Say what?? Experts have always claimed that people under hypnosis won’t do anything they normally would be strongly opposed too. Pretty much making any wild sex story in a movie or tv show invalid. Would suicide fit into this too? You can’t tell someone under hypnosis to jump off a building. It won’t work. Right? I can understand firing the principal. But why would the school board settle? Isn’t this pretty bogus? I find it hard to believe anything this guy did contributed to a suicide. My mom attended a workshop at a medical Anesthesia conference. Part of her continuing ed requirement to keep her medical license. They spent a couple days learning some hypnosis techniques. Primarily to control anxiety and mild pain blockage. I don’t think she ever used it in a hospital setting. But it does have a place in Anesthesia . [http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20151006/ARTICLE/151009766](http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20151006/ARTICLE/151009766) > [@](#): > > The families of three North Port High School students who died after being hypnotized by former Principal George Kenney will receive $200,000 each from the Sarasota County School District under a settlement agreement unanimously approved by the School Board at its meeting Tuesday night. > > The $600,000 settlement closes a bizarre, years long case that began after former North Port High School Principal Kenney admitted he hypnotized 16-year-old Wesley McKinley a day before the teenager committed suicide in April 2011. > > A subsequent investigation found that Kenney hypnotized as many as 75 students, staff members and others from 2006 until McKinley’s death. One basketball player at the school said Kenney hypnotized him 30 to 40 times to improve his concentration. > > Among those who were hypnotized were 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo and 16-year-old Marcus Freeman. Palumbo committed suicide in 2011. Freeman was in a fatal car accident after apparently self-hypnotizing, a technique Kenney taught the teenager, also in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/2 "2015-10-07T15:05:17Z")
How do they know the kid in the car accident was self hypnotizing at the time? Did they find the watch on a chain jammed up his nose or something? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/3 "2015-10-07T15:06:05Z")
So, it wasn’t the principal who was hypnotized into writing three $200K checks, then? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/4 "2015-10-07T15:07:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Say what?? Experts have always claimed that people under hypnosis won’t do anything they normally would be strongly opposed too. Pretty much making any wild sex story in a movie or tv show invalid. What expert claimed that? This is clearly a matter of a school district ending this stupid lawsuit, and a stupid High School Principal who should have known better even if what he did was harmless. Oh, and big surprise, it all happened in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/5 "2015-10-07T15:09:58Z")
I wondered that too. This whole story just sounds off. I feel bad for the parents. But teen suicide has always been a big problem. Blaming a principal that used some basic hypnosis techniques doesn’t make sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/6 "2015-10-07T15:14:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What expert claimed that? > > This is clearly a matter of a school district ending this stupid lawsuit, and a stupid High School Principal who should have known better even if what he did was harmless. Oh, and big surprise, it all happened in Florida. I’ve seen a disclaimer like this in practically any news article on hypnosis shows. Hypnosis does not turn you into a mindless zombie. Your own free will is always present. It can help with minor bad habits like smoking but only if the person really wants to stop. [http://www.wellspringhypno.com/overview3.php](http://www.wellspringhypno.com/overview3.php) > [@](#): > > However, if suggestions are given that are outside their personal boundaries, they will simply cease to follow the hypnotist’s suggestions, or they will come out of hypnosis. A person in hypnosis is in control at all times and can easily come out of hypnosis at any time, for any reason. If you choose to use hypnosis for positive personal change, your mind will only accept those suggestions that are compatible with your beliefs and ethics. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/7 "2015-10-07T15:18:36Z")
None of that matters. The threat of a civil trial, where the decision is in the hands of 12 _Floridians_, makes $200,000 a pop a bargain. Wrongful death suits are in the several millions - and the the younger the victims, the higher they go. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/8 "2015-10-07T15:24:42Z")
Yes, I guess they just wanted this lawsuit to go away. Pay the blood money and move on. Seems like a baseless lawsuit to me. But it would be expensive to fight in court. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/9 "2015-10-07T15:25:50Z")
Relevant: [Creepy Case: “Hypno-Lawyer”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=766382) Calls into question the assertion that hypnosis can’t make you violate your personal boundaries. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/10 "2015-10-07T15:26:51Z")
Stupid move. Baseless lawsuits might be expensive to fight, but they’re even more expensive to not fight. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/11 "2015-10-07T15:56:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve seen a disclaimer like this in practically any news article on hypnosis shows. Hypnosis does not turn you into a mindless zombie. Your own free will is always present. It can help with minor bad habits like smoking but only if the person really wants to stop. > [http://www.wellspringhypno.com/overview3.php](http://www.wellspringhypno.com/overview3.php) I don’t consider news articles or that site to be providing Straight Dope level information. I don’t think anyone knows the limits of control of people under hypnosis, and I suspect it would be unethical to attempt to determine that in scientific experimentation. But the limits don’t need to be found, all that is needed is just one case where a person acted in a way they would have refused without hypnosis. There have been a number of claims of such cases. None of that matters here at all anyway because it doesn’t appear that the Principal used hypnosis as a means to make these students kill themselves. The article does not present any evidence that hypnosis had anything at all to do with the deaths of the students except for a comment that one of the students may have been practicing self-hypnosis while driving, something I doubt even that idiot principal advised him to do. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/12 "2015-10-07T16:09:43Z")
I can see a case here. Did students not seek professional help because their principal was hypnotizing their problems away? If he’d been treating physical ailments with homeopathy he’d be just as liable, and as he’s unlicensed to practice medicine criminally so. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/13 "2015-10-07T17:36:15Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > So, it wasn’t the principal who was hypnotized into writing three $200K checks, then? No, unless that hypno-lawyer was representing the students. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/14 "2015-10-07T19:18:00Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > How do they know the kid in the car accident was self hypnotizing at the time? Did they find the watch on a chain jammed up his nose or something? He wasn’t alone in the car. The article says, “After a painful dentist visit on March 15, 2011, Freeman drove home with his girlfriend. His girlfriend said that during the ride Freeman got a strange look on his face and veered off of Interstate 75 near Toledo Blade Boulevard. Freeman later died from his injuries; his girlfriend survived.” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/15 "2015-10-07T20:29:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Say what?? Experts have always claimed that people under hypnosis won’t do anything they normally would be strongly opposed too. Pretty much making any wild sex story in a movie or tv show invalid. > > Would suicide fit into this too? You can’t tell someone under hypnosis to jump off a building. It won’t work. Right? > > I can understand firing the principal. But why would the school board settle? Isn’t this pretty bogus? I find it hard to believe anything this guy did contributed to a suicide. In my experience, hypnotism is intended to produce deep relaxation. Similar would be meditation, and the current trend of “mindfulness”. The use of the term “trance” in describing hypnosis is very inaccurate and misleading (and consequently, leads to strong negative opinions). A person “under hypnosis” is not a zombie (whatever that may mean to anyone), they are simply relaxed. In the case of the suicide, likely the principal was aware that the student was in peril and was trying to help. The suicide suggests that the help wasn’t enough. In the case of the car accident, is is possible the driver had been given some form of pain killer, or maybe twilight sleep for the dental procedure, and therefor shouldn’t have been driving? Yes, the settlement from the school board was intended to close the books on the cases. And firing the principal was the only option. But it is very unfortunate that people are drawing a set of faulty conclusions because hypnosis was used. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/16 "2015-10-07T20:33:34Z")
Note that they didn’t kill themselves while hypnotized, they did so later. Unless one considers that they were still hypnotized at the time. The articles (at least the one I read) doesn’t really give enough information to know why those other two killed themselves. Between the time the principal hypnotized them and the time they offed themselves, were there any observed changes in their behavior? Did they talk of killing themselves, or talk about feeling damaged by the hypnosis? Nothing I saw in the articles I read (not necessarily the same ones linked in above posts) really says one way or another, whether there is any evidence to link the deaths with the principal having hypnotized them. So for all we know, there might be some basis for these lawsuits, or there might not be. I think that covers the possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/17 "2015-10-07T20:38:33Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Note that they didn’t kill themselves while hypnotized, they did so later. Unless one considers that they were still hypnotized at the time. > > The articles (at least the one I read) doesn’t really give enough information to know why those other two killed themselves. Between the time the principal hypnotized them and the time they offed themselves, were there any observed changes in their behavior? Did they talk of killing themselves, or talk about feeling damaged by the hypnosis? > > Nothing I saw in the articles I read (not necessarily the same ones linked in above posts) really says one way or another, whether there is any evidence to link the deaths with the principal having hypnotized them. So for all we know, there might be some basis for these lawsuits, or there might not be. I think that covers the possibilities. That was my impression too. There’s no real connection between the principal hypnotizing anybody and these suicides. It makes the lawsuit even less understandable. It’s like ok he hypnotized a few people. So what? Who cares? To try and claim what he did had any connection to what happened to these kids makes no sense. But the three families still pocketed 600 grand out of their lawsuit. Maybe this time the school should have fought back in court. A line against unsupported lawsuits has to be drawn somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/18 "2015-10-07T21:16:01Z")
Had the school district fought, it would very quickly get more expensive than $600,000 just in legal fees. Plus the principal was not licensed for hypnotherapy, so their defense would have been weak. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/19 "2015-10-07T21:48:59Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I can see a case here. Did students not seek professional help because their principal was hypnotizing their problems away? If he’d been treating physical ailments with homeopathy he’d be just as liable, and as he’s unlicensed to practice medicine criminally so. Considering how vague these articles are, I think this is the most likely answer. A case based on “He hypnotized them to kill themselves” would be laughed out of court. A case based on “He knew they were suicidal and didn’t report it” has some merit. It just doesn’t make for an interesting headline. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/20 "2015-10-07T22:58:10Z")
The principal was told to stop doing hypnosis on kids but didn’t. He hypnotized one kid the day he committed suicide. \*McKinley was found hanging outside his home less than a month later on April 8. His friend Thomas Lyle said in a deposition for the case that McKinley was hypnotized by Kenney at least three times, including on the day he died. McKinley wanted to do better with his guitar practice for his audition with the Julliard School of the Arts, Lyle said. When McKinley would get on the school bus after sessions, sometimes he wouldn’t know his name, Lyle said. McKinley would ask who his friends were. The same day McKinley died, he asked Lyle to punch him in the face, the records stated. “I would say that he was in a distant phase. He wasn’t all there mentally, it seemed like, after the sessions,” Lyle said, according to a deposition.\* Whoa. It would take experts to figure out if he was really culpable, but it sounds like the families, especially the one above, had a good argument to make that he was. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817.md?page=2)