PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Definition: Lobotomy is a neurosurgical process. A form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy. Surgical severance of nerve fibers connecting the frontal lobes to the thalamus performed especially formerly for the relief of some mental disorders.
There are two kinds of lobotomy procedures. The original lobotomy was called prefrontal lobotomy which was when the doctor drilled holes in the side or on the top of the patients skull to get to the frontal lobes. The second procedure was transorbital lobotomy, which was a better procedure than the prefrontal, transorbital was when the brain was accessed through the eye sockets. This lobotomy did not leave any scars, it took less than 10 minutes, and could be preformed outside an operating room.
In September 14, 1936 Freeman renames it the "lobotomy," and with his partner James Watts they perform the first ever prefrontal lobotomy in the United States. His patient is Alice Hood Hammatt, a housewife from Topeka, Kansas
On February 1967, Freeman performs his final transorbital lobotomy on Helen Mortensen. It’s her third lobotomy by him. She died from a brain hemorrhage following the procedure. Freeman was then banned from operating again.
On May 31, 1972, Freeman dies of cancer at age 76
