Maddenation
My Lobotomy
My Lobotomy is probably the worst story I have ever heard on NPR. I just listened to it on my way home from work. It’s a very long piece about a man who had a transorbital lobotomy at age twelve. I didn’t know what this procedure was until I listened to the segment. It’s ‘surgery’ where a psychiatrist named Walter Freeman stabs an ice-pick into your brain. The ice pick first goes into your eye, or just above - then through your orbital lobe and into your brain. And then Freeman would jiggle and cut around in the brain (by the way - an ice pick into both eyes at the same time).
Anyway, have a listen. I’m not sure what I think about it. It is mostly shocking. Really. I’m writing this only minutes after first hearing it. And I’m relistening to it right now. It’s emotive and appalling. It’s also very well done - as it is narrated by Howard Dully, the man who, at age 12, had the surgery. His journey and commentary are moving and heartfelt.
Comments
Dad • 11/20/05 • 12:58 PM:Hence the expression (and country western song), “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”
And then there’s that other expression, “It’s better than an ice pick in the eye.”
Guess we can all be glad that the mental health industry has improved somewhat since Freeman’s day.
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