| Few chapters in the medical history of Athens | | | | 1950s and early 1960s.In 1936 Egas Moniz, M.D., a |
| County, Ohio, are more notorious or fascinating | | | | Portugese physician who eventually won a Nobel |
| than that concerning Walter Freeman, M.D., and | | | | Prize for his work, reported the results of his |
| the more than 200 frontal lobotomies he | | | | earliest frontal lobotomies in a French medical |
| performed at the Athens State Hospital in seven | | | | journal. Dr. Walter Freeman, a neurologist at |
| visits between 1953 and 1957.Until the middle of | | | | George Washington University in Washington, D.C., |
| the twentieth century, treatment for most | | | | who had met Dr. Moniz a year earlier, was |
| inpatients in large state hospitals, like that in | | | | impressed with the report. Within the same year |
| Athens, was limited to providing a safe and | | | | Dr. Freeman teamed with a neurosurgeon to |
| humane environment. Effective drugs for mental | | | | perform the operation, and over the next decade |
| illnesses did not become available until the late | | | | the partners operated on many more cases. |