The Lobotomist-Walter Freeman

The program The Lobotomist focuses on Dr. Walter Freeman, the creation of the lobotomy procedure and the consequences this brought to his career. Dr. Walter Freeman desired to treat the hundreds of psychiatric patients that needed help during the twentieth century. These poor patients lived under horrible conditions in warehouses where they were treated inhumanly and had no hope for a better future. Dr. Walter Freeman started the perfection of the lobotomy in search of a cheaper and accessible cure for psychiatric patients. He wanted to provide a miraculous cure for them. Dr. Freeman started improving a Portuguese neurologist technique call the lobotomy, which would reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. At a fast rate he would sleep patients insert an ice pick trough their peeled eyeball and lid. He would then tap the ice pick with a surgical hammer and break through the orbital cavity of the eye to the prefrontal lobe. He would wiggle the ice pick to sever the frontal lobes and then finally end the procedure. The procedure would leave patients emotionless and with severely bruised eyes for several days. The procedure seemed to “cure” several patients and take away their maniac style for sometime. The lobotomy was soon employed around asylums in the united states where Freeman quickly acquired a reputation for curing mentally ill and even performed 40 lobotomies a day. Walter Freeman was also characterized for performing for large crowds to impress them and create a medical shock. Freeman was in the height of his career when several patients developed complications and even died from hemorrhages during the procedure. Dr. Freeman even killed a patient when carelessly taking a picture during the ice pick perforated his brain. Soon Freeman’s reputation ended and the “pill” was developed. The pill had the same effect as the lobotomy and had reduced consequences and did not include any dangerous procedure. A decade later the procedure was viewed as barbaric and Freeman was ordered to halt any procedures in asylums or hospitals. Freeman was soon rejected by the board of doctors and viewed as a moral monster. Many claim Freeman was driven by ambition but I personally believe his first intentions were honest and he was offering the only available cure to those hopeless patients. Freeman was destroyed when America began to view him as a monster, his career had ended horribly. I believe Freeman greatly contributed to the treatment of mentally ill patients and should always be attributed with that recognition, even though his procedure was not medically ethical it was the only option at that time.

The Lobotomist: A review - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/54179/#ixzz1HC0NtJqo