Lobotomy Back in Spotlight After 30 Years

Associated Press ^ | 07/13/2005 | LINDA A. JOHNSON

[f150driver]

The lobotomy, once a widely used method for treating mental illness, epilepsy and even chronic headaches, is generating fresh controversy 30 years after doctors stopped performing the procedure now viewed as barbaric.

A new book and a medical historian contend the crude brain surgery actually helped roughly 10 percent of the estimated 50,000 Americans who underwent the procedure between the mid-1930s and the 1970s. But relatives of lobotomy patients want the Nobel Prize given to its inventor revoked.

[f150driver]

To the people who think lobotomy wasn't so bad I say - you first, buddy.

[SkyPilot]

Did some Kennedy child embarrass their father again?

[Prince Charles]

A new book and a medical historian contend the crude brain surgery actually helped roughly 10 percent of the estimated 50,000 Americans who underwent the procedure between the mid-1930s and the 1970s...

...but the other 90% started voting Democrat.

[Mears]

Old Joe Kennedy thought lobotomizing someone was a good thing.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I'D RATHER HAVE A BOTTLE IN FRONT OF ME
(Randy Hanzlick)


Jimmy and I were brothers.
We went down different paths.
Jimmy always listened to my mother,
And me, I never like to take a bath.

As we grew and tumbled through adulthood
The pressure caused emotional drain.
So now I'm slowly dying in the bottle
and Jimmy has to live with half a brain.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.

Jimmy let his troubles drive him crazy.
He never tried to drown it in a drink.
I know that drinking makes my thinking hazy,
But at least I still have brains enough to think.

Jimmy's got a brain that isn't stable.
He doesn't have the sense to say his name.
I'm sorry that his doctor was unable
To remove the proper portion of his brain.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.

Funny how the world works.
People can be real jerks.
Some prefer the tension over booze.

Either way it ends the same.
Hard to beat the living game.
Might as well enjoy it while you lose.

When I need a drink I start to shiver
And Jimmy always viewed it with concern.
But I'd rather have cirrhosis of the liver
Than an intellect that's second to a fern.

I wonder if old Jimmy's gonna hear it
When I tell him that his logic wasn't sound.
They'll dose him up on lots of evil spirits
When they take him to the psychiatric grounds.

Yes, me, I've got a bottle in front of me,
And Jimmy has a frontal lobotomy.
Just different ways to kill the pain the same.

But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me,
Than have to have a frontal lobotomy.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane.
I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane!

[Loyalist]

Brain surgery can do some strange things.

My father was an orderly at the Nova Scotia Mental Hospital when he was in university in the early 1960's and saw a lot of lobotomized patients.

One patient was lobotomized, then had to be re-lobotomized twice. The third time turned him into a raging homosexual who couldn't keep his hands to himself.

[Brilliant]

Popularized by Howard Dean.

[wolfpat]

...but the other 90% started voting Democrat.
You beat me to it.

[Clemenza]

"Now I guess I have to tell 'em

That I got no cerebellum

Gonna get my PHD

I'm a Teenage Lobotomy!"

[God luvs America]

"Teenage Lobotomy"

Lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy, lobotomy!
DDT did a job on me
Now I am a real sickie
Guess I'll have to break the news
That I got no mind to lose
All the girls are in love with me
I'm a teenage lobotomy

Slugs and snails are after me
DDT keeps me happy
Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no cerebellum
Gonna get my Ph.D.
I'm a teenage lobotomy

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Was going for these lyrics but you saved me the trouble by seconds. Thanks.

[God luvs America]

now all we need is an audio feed!

[BallyBill]

No Christmas cards to send, daddy likes men.

[Cat loving Texan]

Labotomy might be a good thing. But we need to do research. Let's labotomize some Democrat voters. Oh never mind. That's already occured.

[FreedomPoster]

Dang, beat me to it.

[concerned about politics]

Did some Kennedy child embarrass their father again?

Darn!! That's what I was thinking when I clicked this thread - The Kennedy's. They're the poster family for lobotomy.

[xJones]

Yes, old Joe Kennedy had his daughter, Rosemary, lobotomized without bothering to tell her mother in advance. Poor thing, she had been presented with her sister, Kathleen, to the British King and Queen at a formal presentation and was, at the now-accepted estimate, only mildly retarded but was unable to keep up in her family's highly competitive upbringing. She reached puberty, had raging fits at being left out of her sibling's activities, and her father 'calmed' her down with a lobotomy. She was wrecked completely by it, and has lived under the care of nuns ever since.

Another very wealthy father, H.L. Hunt tried the same thing on his eldest and favorite child, 'Hassie', around the same time period. Hassie looked exactly like his father and showed an early genius in the oil business. But his father was running two other growing families at the same time, and Hassie was pushed too hard as his father's eldest and favored child. He had some sort of nervous breakdown, and H.L Hunt had a lobotomy proformed on him to 'calm him down'. It calmed him alright, he required 24 hour care for the rest of his life.

[elmer fudd]

My father used to supervise some of the lobotomized patients at Western State Hospital in Washington. He said it was a lot like looking after robots and you could tell one of them to clean the toilet and 2 hour later he'd still be there doing it unless you interupted him.

[mylife]

Teenage Lobotomy

[stocksthatgoup]

Dr. Howard The Dean