San Diego Schools Banned Hypnotism After a Student Got Hurt

In 1990, Mission Bay High School in San Diego hosted what would become its final hypnotism show. For ten years, the school had held these performances annually as PTSA fundraisers for the senior class. Students volunteered to be hypnotized on stage while their classmates watched the spectacle unfold. But that year, everything changed when 15-year-old Sarah Hohe sustained injuries during the performance.

During the "Magic of the Mind Show," Sarah repeatedly slid from her chair and fell to the floor—about six times throughout the performance. Both she and her father had signed liability waivers before the event, standard practice for the school's hypnotism shows. The school district assumed these releases protected them from any consequences. They were wrong.

The Lawsuit That Changed Everything

Sarah's family sued San Diego Unified School District, and the case went all the way to the California Court of Appeal. The district argued that the signed waivers released them from responsibility. But the court found a critical flaw: the release forms never specifically mentioned negligence. The language was too vague and ambiguous to actually protect the school from liability.

In Hohe v. San Diego Unified School District (1990), the court established an important principle: schools can't use poorly worded release forms to escape responsibility when students get hurt. For assumption of risk waivers to be valid, they need clear and explicit language that directly addresses negligence. Generic liability releases don't cut it.

From Fundraiser to Forbidden

Following this legal embarrassment, San Diego public schools banned hypnotism performances entirely. What had been a popular annual tradition—a way to raise money while entertaining students—became prohibited. The district wasn't willing to risk another lawsuit, even with better-written waivers.

The ban specifically targets entertainment hypnotism—the stage shows where hypnotists make volunteers do silly or embarrassing things for laughs. It doesn't prohibit therapeutic hypnosis used by licensed medical professionals for legitimate health purposes. A student seeing a hypnotherapist for anxiety or smoking cessation wouldn't violate the policy.

Why This Matters

San Diego's ban reflects a broader question about risk in schools. Hypnotism shows seem harmless—just a fun performance, right? But when something goes wrong, who's responsible? The hypnotist? The school? The parents who signed the waiver?

The Hohe case answered that question clearly: schools remain responsible for student safety, even when parents sign releases. You can't just hand someone a form and assume you're protected from lawsuits. The law requires schools to actually take care of students, not just collect signatures on liability waivers.

Today, if you attend a San Diego public school, don't expect to see a hypnotist at your next assembly. That chapter of school entertainment history ended over three decades ago, thanks to one student's injuries and a court's decision that student safety matters more than fundraising convenience.