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Walter Freeman
Neurologist and Lobotomist
Self-taught lobotomist who performed over 3,400 brain surgeries without surgical training
Overview
Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895-1972) was an American neurologist who became the foremost promoter and practitioner of lobotomy in the United States. He personally performed over 3,400 lobotomies, including approximately 2,500 transorbital ("ice pick") lobotomies that he conducted as an office procedure without surgical training, without anesthesiologists, and frequently without informed consent. He traveled the country in a van he called the "lobotomobile," performing assembly-line lobotomies at state mental hospitals. At least 490 of his patients died as a direct result of the procedure. Freeman was never criminally charged, never lost his medical license (though he lost hospital privileges), and continued to defend the procedure until his death.
Key Affiliations
Controversies & Concerns
Performed over 3,400 lobotomies including 2,500 transorbital procedures without surgical training or qualifications
Developed the transorbital lobotomy technique using a modified ice pick from his kitchen, performing the procedure as an office visit
Lobotomized children as young as 4 years old; performed the procedure on 12-year-old Howard Dully based solely on his stepmother complaints
Performed the lobotomy on Rosemary Kennedy in 1941, permanently incapacitating the 23-year-old daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
Traveled the country in his "lobotomobile," performing mass lobotomies at state mental hospitals, including 25 women in a single day at one West Virginia facility
At least 490 patients died as a direct result of his procedures; thousands more were left in permanent vegetative or diminished states
Performed his last lobotomy in 1967 on Helen Mortensen, a woman he had lobotomized twice before; she died of a brain hemorrhage
Related Investigations (1)
Known Associates & Connections
James Watts
Neurosurgery partner at GWU who performed the actual surgery for prefrontal lobotomies (1936-1946); ended partnership when Freeman developed the transorbital technique
Egas Moniz
Portuguese neurologist who invented the lobotomy in 1935 and received the 1949 Nobel Prize; Freeman adapted and promoted his technique in the United States
Sources & Documentation
2 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports
Personal Information
- Born
- 1895-11-14
- Birthplace
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Also Known As
- The Lobotomist, The Ice Pick Doctor
Education
- •Yale University (B.S., 1916)
- •University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (M.D., 1920)
- •University of Paris (neurology training, 1923-1924)
Key Timeline
1936-09-14
Performs first American lobotomy on Alice Hood Hammatt at George Washington University Hospital
1941-11
Lobotomizes Rosemary Kennedy at age 23, permanently incapacitating her
1946-01
Develops transorbital ("ice pick") lobotomy technique using a modified kitchen ice pick
1949
Egas Moniz receives Nobel Prize for inventing the lobotomy, giving the procedure international scientific legitimacy
1954
Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) introduced, providing pharmaceutical alternative to lobotomy
1967-02-22
Performs final lobotomy on Helen Mortensen; she dies of brain hemorrhage; Freeman loses all remaining hospital privileges
1972-05-31
Dies of colon cancer at age 76; never criminally charged or stripped of medical license