Retarded Kennedy Sister Dies at 86 (lobotomized at the age of 23) - 2005 article

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/117278/retarded_kennedy_sister_dies_at_86/index.html ^ | Posted on: Saturday, 8 January 2005, 00:00 CST

[Jean S]

WASHINGTON - Rosemary Kennedy, the oldest sister of President John F. Kennedy and the inspiration for the Special Olympics, died Friday. She was 86.

Kennedy, the third child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy, was born mentally retarded and underwent a lobotomy when she was 23. She lived most of her life in a Jefferson, Wis., institution, the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children.

Excerpt

[Jean S]

The family hid this child for years in Wisconsin and had a large portion of her brain cut out. She was an embarassment to the family and needed to be hidden.

[Psycho_Bunny]

As far as I can tell, the whole family is sick.

[raptor29]

Still had more brains than Ted.

[Talisker]

"Rosemary was a lifelong jewel to every member of our family," the family statement said."

Yeah, a jewel so precious that they pierced it with a needle and hung it around their necks as a prize gem - literally.

[BallyBill]

I'm sure there is a point to this?

[GeronL]

Ted took her for the lobotomy while mom was out of town apparently

[Freddd]

lobotomized without her consent. Obamacare comes to mind.

[randomhero97]

OMG, that’s brutal. lol silently.

[GOPsterinMA]

They have named a drink after Ted Kennedy. It’s called the Chappaquiddick. It’s made by mixing Gin and murky water.

The old man was a horrid, horrid cretin. Between this and his blatant hatred of Jews, how/why the hell is that family worshiped by so many?

St. Peter: “I don’t care how drunk you were, Ted, it’s still murder!”

[BunnySlippers]

There is an incredible book out by another patient lobotimized by the same doctor called “MY LOBOTOMY”.

Read it. It may put things in perspective.

[Nervous Tick]

>> The family hid this child for years in Wisconsin and had a large portion of her brain cut out. She was an embarassment to the family and needed to be hidden.

You could be talking about Teddy, except that:

* they hid Teddy in Washington, not Wisconsin
* instead of the “frontal lobotomy” approach, he chose the “bottle in front of me” dain bramage technique.

[Eagles6]

As teddy “the swimmer” said “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Surely they made a mistake a lobotomized Ted instead, that would explain a lot.

[maggief]

[omega4179]

Howie Carr has some thoughts on the subject of Rosemary.

[CatOwner]

"Ted took her for the lobotomy while mom was out of town apparently"

Do the math. Ted would have been about 10 years old at the time. I despite the man, but I don't think he was responsible for making this decision or aiding in getting it done.

[Glenn]

You are a complete moron for posting this.

It was a different time. A different age.

[BunnySlippers]

Check post #10.

It was called a pre-frontal lobotomy, an “ice pick” lobotomy which was VERY popular at the time. The ice pick was shoved through the eye sockets to scramble the brain.

The book is by a survivor of the procedure and there were a huge number of people who had it done.

[freekitty]

“She died in a Wisconsin hospital with her brother, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and her sisters at her side, the family said.”

That doesn’t make sense; since her last sister died a week or two ago. It’s possible Kennedy himself was there; but he died two days later.

Mystery???????

[musicbymuzak]

What a shame. She looks like she was sweet.

[BunnySlippers]

This was a hugely popular treatment for the era.

[cajungirl]

You might not know it but they are doing lobootomies now,,for people with severe refractory to treatment OCD. It works.

I have read of Rosemary and don’t think she was retarded prior to the surgery. She was either rebellious with poor judgement or a developmental disorder or Bipolar Disorder. Clearly she drove ole Joe crazy with her behavior and he did this. It changed her forever. Sad sad thing.

[Mojave]

Ted took her for the lobotomy while mom was out of town apparently

Here's what she looked like before the Kennedy clan mutilated her.

[joejm65]

So, mentally retarded people can keep diaries? I have an uncle who’s mentally retarded. He’s 63, and I don’t think he’s ever written his name. I suppose there are different degrees of retardation, but it sounds like young Ms. Kennedy really didn’t need to have part of her brain cut out. She sounds more like McMurphy from ‘Cuckoos Nest’. How tragic.

[Clara Lou]

Old Joe Kennedy had it done while Mom was out of town.

[muir_redwoods]

I've heard that old Joe was shocked to find out that his retarded daughter was sometimes found to be masturbating. In response to this he had her lobotomized.

Such a prince.

[BunnySlippers]

You might want to look at my post #10.

There were tons of people who had this “surgery” before it was discredited. Some were “cured”, some stayed the same, some were incapactated like Rosemary.

[maggief]

{{{I was just reading that article.}}}

Thank you for posting.

[randomhero97]

Old Joe Kennedy had it done while Mom was out of town.

Wouldn't expect less out of a Nazi sympathizer.

[svcw]

They cut out her brain, when she was functional, because she might be an embarrassment...........what the hell where the four whore monger brothers.
These people are sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TomOnTheRun]

It's a mistake to judge the decisions of the past with the information of today - that hindsight is 20/20 is an old idea. Lobotomies were the hot new treatment for almost any mental condition you care to name at that time. Families were promised that it would fix problems, help their children, and generally be a miracle in their lives. Some doctors used it to treat almost any condition that didn't have a specific physical cause that was treatable with medication. Bloodletting in previous centuries would be an apt comparison.

I don't think the Kennedy family had sinister motives when they did this - they were hoping that a cutting edge treatment suggested by crack doctors might help her. They were probably promised it would help her by doctors they trusted. Like a lot of families they found out the hard way that it almost always made things worse. The treatment of the retarded and the insane over the centuries is horrific but usually not because their families wanted them to suffer.

[BunnySlippers]

There is a big story on NPR website. but there surgery was considered to be state of the art, ground-breaking at the time. Many people were maimed.

The book ... “My Lobotomy” is an amazing read.

[Jean S]

See the date in the header and title. This happened in 2005.

[donna]

She adopted the moral code of the Kennedy men, including her father...she slept around.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Her father worried that she would damage the family reputation. Fear of pregnancy and disease? Was she promiscuous in a time when that was scandalous?

And they hid her in Wisconsin. It sounds as if nobody knew President Kennedy had a hidden mentally retarded sister when he was running for president. That news leaked out later; clearly the family didn’t want anyone to know.

Gotta love that spin — The Kennedy family now says that she was the inspiration for the Special Olympics. If they were so big on promoting help and events for mentally disabled people, why in the sam hill would the family hide a family member with that condition???????

[Clara Lou]

Why post this? What’s your point? That old Joe Kennedy was a total SOB?? That’s old news.

[Missus]

Absolutely horrific. Being able to keep diaries would lead me to believe she was not nearly so defective as the family might have preferred. What’s wrong with just looking out for the vulnerable? They took a pretty, lively person and scrambled her, and locked her away.

I’m really glad it’s not me having to answer for that atrocity.

[Clara Lou]

And you know that information how?

[t1b8zs]

do these numerals make sence 2005?

[Clara Lou]

That man was despicable. And it rubbed off on his sons.

[Jean S]

Sorry, this didn’t happen in 2005, it was published in 2005.

[Thank You Rush]

“”That doesn’t make sense; since her last sister died a week or two ago. It’s possible Kennedy himself was there; but he died two days later.””

The article is from 2005.......

[maggief]

[SoKatt]

*snicker*

[guitarplayer1953]

With her violent mood swings she may of been manic depressive.

[taildragger]

Rumor from an old aviator they used to fly old man Kennedy’s hooch inland via seaplane by putting it in the floats. More to the story but not for here....

[BunnySlippers]

Most people who were urged to have them were depressed, had simple personality disorders or were emotional or excitable.

It was a weird time in American medical history. One not far removed from quacks. Pre-frontal lobotomies were declared illegal after many people were maimed.

The doctor who invented the process was the one who did the one on the author of the “My Lobotomy” book and the same doctor who did Rosemary’s.

[truthkeeper]

I've read quite a bit about her. She may have had only a learning disorder and/or A.D.D., but she apparently had a strong rebellious streak.

It obviously irked the old man, who took care of it while Rose was out of town. Imagine coming home and finding that your daughter is now a vegetable.

How he lived with himself is beyond me.

[Jean S]

That may have been true but she was not retarded until after her lobotomy. She was an embarassment to her family so good old Joe had her put away.

[BunnySlippers]

She certainly looks normal. Sad.