Docility and Active Docility

Why did patients and their family members agree to or even seek out a lobotomy? Why did physicians choose to perform this procedure, today viewed as damaging and abusive? To answer these questions, in this chapter I reconstruct the personal stories and experiences of lobotomy patients and their families. From correspondence between Walter Freeman and his patients and their families, as well as the medical documentation available in the patient case files, I re-create the context in which lobotomy was perceived and examine how it came to be viewed by patients and families as a legitimate treatment for mental illness. This approach brings to light an untold aspect of the history of lobotomy, which usually focuses on the uses and abuses of the procedure within the institutional settings.

My analysis is based on the assumption that by its nature, medical practice is interpretive, and depends on telling, retelling, and interpreting stories. By reconstructing the individual narratives of the patients, their families, and their physician one can see how meaning is endowed to stories of disease and suffering. Freeman was viewed by his patients and their family members as an authority on matters both medical and social, and his advice, both before and after the operation, was respected and followed closely. On the other hand, his prospective patients and their family members took an active part in choosing, planning, executing, and interpreting the results of the procedure.