Walter Jackson Freeman II facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Walter Jackson Freeman II
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Freeman (left) and James W. Watts (right) studying an X-ray before a psychosurgical operation, photo published in May 1941
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| Born | November 14, 1895 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | May 31, 1972 (aged 76) San Francisco, California, U.S.
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| Children | Walter Jackson Freeman III |
| Relatives | William Williams Keen (maternal grandfather) |
Walter Jackson Freeman II (November 14, 1895 – May 31, 1972) was an American doctor. He became well-known for using and making a type of brain surgery called a lobotomy popular.
A lobotomy was a controversial operation on the brain. It was meant to treat serious mental illnesses. Freeman wanted to make lobotomies simpler. He hoped that doctors in mental hospitals could do them, even without special operating rooms or surgeons.
Freeman invented a new way to do lobotomies called the "transorbital lobotomy." This method used a tool that looked like an ice pick. The doctor would place this tool under the eyelid and push it through a thin bone into the brain. This procedure did not need a brain surgeon. It could be done outside an operating room, sometimes without pain medicine. Instead, doctors would use electroconvulsive therapy to make the patient briefly unconscious.
Freeman's partner, Dr. James W. Watts, stopped working with him in 1947. He was upset that Freeman had turned the surgery into a simple "office" procedure. Freeman helped make lobotomies very popular. He traveled across the United States, visiting mental hospitals and performing the surgery.
Freeman himself performed about 4,000 lobotomies. Some of his patients were as young as 4 years old. He did not have formal surgical training. Sadly, about 100 of his patients died from brain bleeding. In 1967, he was finally stopped from performing surgery.
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Early Life and Education
Walter J. Freeman was born on November 14, 1895, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family had many successful doctors. His grandfather, William Williams Keen, was a famous surgeon during the American Civil War.
Freeman went to Yale University from 1912 to 1916. After that, he studied neurology (the study of the nervous system) at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He admired the work of William Spiller, a pioneer in brain science. Freeman wanted to work with Spiller but was not accepted.
In 1924, Freeman moved to Washington, D.C. He became the city's first neurologist. He started working at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where he saw patients suffering from mental illness. This encouraged him to learn more. He later earned a PhD in neuropathology (the study of brain diseases). He also became the head of the neurology department at George Washington University.
Developing Lobotomy Procedures
The idea of brain surgery for mental illness began in the 1880s. However, it was not widely accepted. In 1935, a Portuguese doctor named António Egas Moniz developed a new procedure called "leucotomy." This surgery involved removing small parts of the brain's frontal lobes. Moniz became a hero to Freeman.
Freeman changed Moniz's procedure and called it the "lobotomy." Instead of removing brain tissue, Freeman's method cut the connections between the frontal lobes and another part of the brain called the thalamus. Because Freeman was a neurologist, not a surgeon, he worked with brain surgeon James Watts.
On September 14, 1936, Freeman guided Watts through the first lobotomy in the United States. It was performed on a housewife named Alice Hood Hammatt. Within two months, they had performed 20 lobotomies. By 1942, they had done over 200. They reported that 63% of patients improved, 23% stayed the same, and 14% got worse.
The Ice-Pick Lobotomy
Freeman later developed an even simpler method. He was inspired by an Italian doctor who operated on the brain through the eye sockets. This allowed access to the brain without drilling through the skull.
Freeman's new procedure was called the transorbital lobotomy. He used a tool called an orbitoclast, which looked like an ice pick. He would tap this tool through the thin bone above the eye, into the brain. Then, he would move the tool around to cut brain tissue. This method did not need pain medicine. Instead, he used electroconvulsive therapy to make patients unconscious. He could even do this procedure in his office.
The first transorbital lobotomy was performed on Sallie Ellen Ionesco in Washington, D.C. In 1950, James Watts, Freeman's long-time partner, left him because he disagreed with this new method.
The Spread and Criticism of Lobotomies
Freeman traveled all over the country, visiting mental hospitals. He performed lobotomies and taught his methods to staff. He became very famous, but also faced a lot of criticism.
One well-known case involved John F. Kennedy's sister, Rosemary Kennedy. After her lobotomy, she was left with severe mental and physical disabilities. A former patient named Howard Dully wrote a book called My Lobotomy. It described his experience with Freeman and his long recovery after having a lobotomy at age 12.
Freeman performed about 2,500 of his "ice-pick" lobotomies. He did not wear gloves or masks during these procedures. He performed lobotomies on 19 young people, including a four-year-old child. In 1951, a patient died when Freeman stopped for a photo during the procedure, and the tool went too far into the brain.
In February 1967, Freeman performed his last surgery on Helen Mortensen. She was having her third lobotomy from him and died from a brain hemorrhage. Many of his patients had to relearn basic skills like eating and using the bathroom. About 15% of patients died from the procedure. After this, Freeman was finally banned from performing surgery.
At age 57, Freeman retired from George Washington University. He opened a small practice in California.
Later Life and Legacy
Freeman died on May 31, 1972, from complications after cancer surgery. He had four children, who later defended his work. His eldest son, Walter Jackson Freeman III, became a professor of neurobiology.
Walter Freeman nominated his mentor, António Egas Moniz, for a Nobel Prize. In 1949, Moniz won the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine. Freeman helped open the door for the idea of psychosurgery. At the time, it was seen as a possible treatment for severe mental illness. However, within a few years, lobotomy was called "one of the most barbaric mistakes of modern medicine."
Freeman also helped show that mental events have a physical basis in the brain. He was a co-founder and president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology from 1946 to 1947.
Works
- Freeman, W. and Watts, J.W. Psychosurgery. Intelligence, Emotion and Social Behavior Following Prefrontal Lobotomy for Mental Disorders, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield (Ill.) 1942, pp. 337.
Images for kids
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Freeman (left) and James W. Watts (right) studying an X-ray before a psychosurgical operation, photo published in May 1941
See also
In Spanish: Walter Freeman para niños
