The tale of lobotomy’s rise and fall entails far more than one man’s quest to spearhead a dubious surgical method. It is a story of desperation among thousands of patients, families, clinicians and policymakers struggling to manage a population seemingly crippled by illnesses for which there was no help. It is also a worrisome account of physicians groping for solutions to problems that they could not adequately address.
http://www.amazon.co...-...9863&sr=1-1
An excellent installment of the television series "American Experience" concerning neurologist, psychiatrist, and lobotomist William Freeman aired last evening on PBS and can be viewed online here. The program showcases an extremely dark period of American medical history, in which the poorly examined brain procedure was performed in assembly-line fashion on institutionalized psychiatric patients throughout the country, casually and without informed consent by a physician who had no formal neurosurgical training. The portrait of Freeman, dubbed the "Henry Ford of Lobotomy" by his daughter, showcases a tragic confluence of colossal arrogance and, very likely, a true earnest to do good.
http://bmartinmd.com...f-lobotomy.html
Edited by stocks, 16 February 2009 - 07:33 PM.