A comment on an alleged association between hypnosis and death: two remarkable cases

Dr. Ewin recently reported his research on two "remarkable" cases where hypnosis performed by a lay hypnotist was allegedly associated with the death of the subject. Commentary is provided about both cases. In the first case, it seems clear that the death was co-incident to the hypnosis. In the second case, Dr. Ewin speculates that hypnosis may have been related to the subject's death following her experience in a stage hypnosis show. Instead, we propose that the alerting suggestion used to terminate the hypnosis (that "the subjects would feel 10,000 volts of electricity through the seat of their chairs"), not hypnosis per se, was inappropriate and may have specifically adversely affected this particular subject due to her phobia regarding electricity. Legal ramifications of these cases regarding the issue of informed consent are raised. It is concluded that these cases do not imply a duty to warn subjects/patients that one possible negative consequence of undergoing hypnosis is death.