Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong

by Paul A. Offit

THE LESSON FROM LOBOTOMIES IS far easier to make than to follow: Beware the quick fix. When Joseph P. Kennedy wanted to cure his daughter’s mild developmental delay, he sought the counsel of Walter Freeman, who told Kennedy that a simple fix was at hand. The procedure would take only a few minutes, wouldn’t require general anesthesia, and would restore his daughter to a level of emotional maturity similar to her brothers and sisters. All the money and time Kennedy had spent on tutors and private schools trying to get Rosemary up to speed hadn’t been necessary. All she really needed was one carefully placed surgical knife in her brain. Even though a noted surgeon had recommended Rosemary’s lobotomy, the reason that it sounded too good to be true was that it was too good to be true. A healthy skepticism by Kennedy could have spared his daughter a life of severe physical and mental disability. All Kennedy had to do was ask to see others who had been lobotomized. But he didn’t want to see them. He wanted to believe in the magic. And for that, his daughter paid an enormous price. As did the thousands of other patients and their families who wanted to believe that complex psychiatric disorders could be treated with a five-minute surgery.