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Regarding the kid that died.... He didn't just have cerebral palsy, you mentioned he also had muscular dystrophy. The MD is important because kids with MD have short lifespans, and their lives are often complicated by recurrent illnesses especially pneumonia (this develops as the respiratory muscles begin to fail). Keith even mentioned he had multiple hospitalizations. By the early/mid teens they often require mechanical ventilation. This is a decision point for families, where they must decide whether to allow the child to pass away naturally (which will happen anyway), or to temporarily prolong life via machine.
All of this is to say the article you read may not have told the entire story. It's certainly possible the neck brace could have contributed to his death, however, it's also possible his disease had progressed and he died naturally. If this is true, the parents may very well simply be looking for someone to blame and get a payout, and the neck brace may have had absolutely nothing to do with it. To the contrary, it sounds like the teacher cared about him enough to try and find a way to help him see in class (i.e. help him feel more like a normal kid in school). It's certainly possible she's an evil schoolmarm who was upset he wasn't looking forward during class, but that's not how the story sounds to me. This possibility would mean that the kid was simply a victim of a terrible disease, and it's really the teacher/school that's a victim of a lawsuit over a situation they had nothing to do with. The real question is what is a kid with cerebral palsy, MD, and a limited lifespan doing in school in the first place?!
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