Dr. Walter Freeman's Frontal Lobotomies at Athens (Ohio) State Hospital

Few chapters in the medical history of Athens1950s and early 1960s.In 1936 Egas Moniz, M.D., a
County, Ohio, are more notorious or fascinatingPortugese physician who eventually won a Nobel
than that concerning Walter Freeman, M.D., andPrize for his work, reported the results of his
the more than 200 frontal lobotomies heearliest frontal lobotomies in a French medical
performed at the Athens State Hospital in sevenjournal. Dr. Walter Freeman, a neurologist at
visits between 1953 and 1957.Until the middle ofGeorge Washington University in Washington, D.C.,
the twentieth century, treatment for mostwho had met Dr. Moniz a year earlier, was
inpatients in large state hospitals, like that inimpressed with the report. Within the same year
Athens, was limited to providing a safe andDr. Freeman teamed with a neurosurgeon to
humane environment. Effective drugs for mentalperform the operation, and over the next decade
illnesses did not become available until the latethe partners operated on many more cases.