LOBOTOMY SURGEON'S STORY WILL AIR ON PBS - Dr. Freeman Did "Ice-Pick" Procedure On Hundreds In WV

(01/04/2008)

Dr. Walter Freeman pioneered a type of brain surgery called the "ice pick lobotomy" in West Virginia State Hospitals. While Freeman crossed the USA promoting the surgery to help the mentally ill, records indicate he did more procedures in West Virginia than any other state. West Virginia mental health officers took little responsibility for permitting Dr. Freemen to perform his surgery, which ended in state hospital physicians, who were not trained surgeons, in continuing the procedure. The Herald has written about the procedure being performed on numerous patients at Spencer State Hospital. (See LINKS below) A new PBS documentary will focus on Freeman's procedure and the countless mental patients it was performed on at Lakin State Hospital in the 1940s and 1950s. Freeman was later criticized for the method, and lobotomies came to be considered a serious mistake of modern medicine. "The Lobotomist" will air as part of PBS American experience on January 21 at 9 p.m. American Experience: The Lobotomist The lobotomy was hailed by the New York Times as a "surgery of the soul" and "history making," a groundbreaking medical procedure that promised hope to the most distressed families and mentally ill patients. Championed by a young and ambitious neurologist named Walter J. Freeman, what began as an operation of last resort was soon being performed at some 50 state asylums, often with devastating results. Only a decade after his rise to fame, Freeman was decried as a moral monster and the lobotomy as one of the most barbaric mistakes of modern medicine. Through interviews with medical historians, psychiatrists who worked with Freeman, and the families who sought his help, this program tells the tale of medical intervention gone awry. 'ICE-PICK' LOBOTOMIES GIVEN AT SPENCER STATE HOSPITAL - "It Was A Real Grisly Thing," Said Doctor SUNNY CAL JOURNAL - Uncle Harrison's Lobotomy

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