The Lobotomy: The Howard Dully Case

Medicine has always played a major role in society, but it was not until the early 1900s that mental illnesses were receiving more attention. People began searching for cures and new treatments were starting, or at least being tried. Famous psychiatrist, Walter Freeman, created the first ever lobotomy in the United States. Although he was not the first ever to attempt one, he was the one known for having the best method. The lobotomy is a type of neurosurgery, or surgery performed on the brain, also known as psychosurgery (Freeman). He created his version of the lobotomy in 1936 with his partner James Watts. The medical field marveled at the new procedure and it was not long before Walter Freeman became a household name. After realizing his

initial procedure was flawed and could be done better, he created the transorbital lobotomy. The first transorbital lobotomy was performed on January 27, 1946. This occurred in Washington, D.C. in Walter Freeman’s personal office. He believed that mental illnesses were related to overactive emotions, so if he cut pieces of the brain, he would also cut away the feelings that were connected to the illness. Transorbital lobotomies were done by making the patient unconscious by electroshock, he then would take a sharp instrument similar to an ice-pick and would insert it above the patient's eyeball (Walter Freeman). He would go through the orbit of the eye and into the frontal lobes of the brain, moving the instrument back and forth, then repeating it on the other side (Howard Dully’s Journey, 2005).
The purpose of the transorbital lobotomy was to attempt to cure people of whatever mental illness they had. Once 1949 hit, transorbital lobotomies became more and more common. It was not too long after that Walter Freeman was performing the operations in all kinds of mental institutions across the entire country. Freeman operated over 2,500 lobotomies on people throughout his life, and he would even perform it on people under the age of eighteen (Walter Freeman). Mental illnesses were the main cause of many problems within families and people themselves. Many procedures resulted in success, but sometimes the result was death. Walter Freeman even thought about moving ahead of the game. Instead of focusing on just mental illnesses, he wondered if he could cure everyday problems like headaches. When Freeman attempted this procedure right away the headaches were gone, but also resulted in a mental state much younger than the person really was. He attempted to transform the transorbital lobotomy to something that could cure just about anything, although it did not really work. In general, there were many cases where one could say lobotomies were a great success, but almost just as often it seemed to ruin a life. Thankfully, recent technology has helped make medicines that can help cure mental illnesses or at the very least relieve some symptoms. As a result, lobotomies are now more of a thing of the past. Although, some still view it as a last ditch effort.
One of the more well known cases of the lobotomy is Howard Dully. Dully is in his mid fifties and now lives in California. He was one of Freeman’s youngest patients ever, being operated on just at the age of twelve (Howard Dully’s Journey, 2005). Howard’s mother passed away when he was young so he had to live with his father and stepmother. His step-mother said “he would disobey and was even savage looking”, so she went to Freeman and asked if the lobotomy procedure was right for him. Once the lobotomy was approved it did not really matter, seeing that nothing was wrong with him. Doctors even told her that he was just being an average child. After the procedure Howard remembers always feeling like something is off or like he is missing something. Unfortunately, he has no memory of the lobotomy, so he talked to his father and found out it was just because of his stepmother.
I believe majority of the procedures either were beneficial or at least necessary.

There was not much else out there to help, and technically he did cure whatever he was asked to fix, it just had major side effects that could include death. Although, I also think the Howard Dully case was completely ridiculous and a procedure of that magnitude could happen without any kind of testing, background check, or referral from another doctor. While I am against the risk of the lobotomy, I still believe Freeman deserves every bit of credit he got. Although it was very unfortunate that his career came to an end on a bad note, when he lost his medical licenses due to a patient dying while he was operating. Considering he was heading over 2,500 different procedures, it is hard to believe he only messed up once, so that is something that sticks out to

me.
At the very least, Freeman and his lobotomy definitely opened many different eyes in the medical and psychological fields.

Studies into his procedures and their results helped lead to a whole new understanding of how the brain and its different parts work and can impact a human being. It paved the way for new medicines and technologies that are being used today to help treat people that suffer from many different kinds of mental disorders. I think that is what makes the lobotomy not only necessary, but one of the most influential medical surgeries ever in history. Mental illnesses and the human brain are one of the hardest things for doctors and scientists alike to try and figure out. There are so many different illnesses and even different versions or severities of the same illness. The lobotomy also fixed the problem of the extreme overcrowding on mental institutions. Before people who suffered from mental disorders really had any chance of a cure or treatment, they would all just get thrown into some kind of institution that really did not help at all, it just served as somewhere to put the people. This eventually became a nasty problem due to too many people filling up the institutions and with not even care, workers, or space available. So, whether the outcome was a success or a death, the lobotomy no doubt helped to get people out of institutions. One could also say that the surgery itself helped lead to different surgeries on different body parts more successful. With

so many procedures being performed, it led to more data on how the human body would react to being operated on. Again, overall, I do believe the lobotomy was not only necessary, but extremely beneficial.
During its time, the transorbital lobotomy was by default the best. Though, that is only because there really was not too much out there yet to compete with it. The only other thing that was done with people who suffered from mental illnesses or disorders was sending them to a institution. The procedure started off taking a long time and was extremely dangerous, but with Freeman “perfecting” it, it became able to be done in less than fifteen minutes and only more barbaric and dangerous (Hall). Although, this was the only way people felt they could get any kind of relief. Freeman’s lobotomies were also a much cheaper alternative to paying for an institution or the state paying for a patient to be in an asylum (Hall). One could also say a surgery of this type during this time is incredible just in itself. If anything, the transorbital lobotomy gave thousands of people hope who never had any before, and I think that is a main reason as to why the procedure is so important.