Howard DullyIn 1960 Howard Dully was brought in for the procedure because his stepmother described him as “unbelievably defiant,” saying among other things: He objects to going to bed and does a good deal of daydreaming. After Howard’s stepmother visited with Dr. Freeman, he suggested that the family should consider the possibility of changing Howard’s personality by means of transorbital lobotomy.”
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Rosemary KennedyRosemary was said to have been considered retarded by members of her family but that assessment has been widely disputed by subsequent analysts. Some concluded that Rosemary may not have been as brilliant as other members of her family but she was a fully functioning person, kept a diary and had an active social life. Rosemary was reportedly subject to violent mood swings and a stormy personality however some observers have since attributed this behavior to her difficulties in keeping up with her active siblings. In 1941, when Rosemary was 23, her father Joseph Kennedy was told by her doctors that a new procedure would help calm her mood swings that the family found difficult to handle at home. Her father gave permission for the prefrontal lobotomy to be performed by Walter Freeman and James Watts.
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Helen MortensenI thought it only fitting to place Dr. Freeman’s last lobotomy in the number one spot. In 1967, Freeman received a visit from Helen Mortensen who was one of his first 10 trans-orbital patients in 1946. She suffered a relapse of her psychiatric symptoms in 1956 and Freeman gave her a second operation. After several more years of working productively, Mortensen wanted a third lobotomy. Freeman did the surgery and severed a blood vessel in Mortensen’s brain. Three days later, Mortensen died. The hospital then revoked Freeman’s surgical privileges and he retired soon after.
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