Bernard Patten

“People with right hemisphere dysfunction are often sons-of-bitches, and this may have been Shy’s problem. If the right hemisphere is suppressed, the left takes over. The left hemisphere has its own agenda and often lacks feeling and rapport. That fact was demonstrated by Sperry’s studies of humans who had their corpus callosum cut for the control of generalized seizures. In these patients, the left hemisphere takes charge of the right hand, and the right takes charge of the left. Arguments occur about what to wear. The right hemisphere goes for flashy colorful clothes and instructs the left hand accordingly, and the left hemisphere goes for more conservative apparel and instructs the right hand to pick accordingly. Sperry showed me a video of the right hand and the left battling it out over what to wear. The patient could not make up her mind because she actually had two minds in conflict. In another patient, the right hemisphere preferred a date with a go-go dancer.”
― Bernard Patten, Neurology Rounds with the Maverick: Adventures with Patients from the Golden Age of Medicine

“the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
― Bernard Patten, Neurology Rounds with the Maverick: Adventures with Patients from the Golden Age of Medicine