The Washington Post highlighted an upcoming PBS documentary on Walter Freeman, who developed a new way to perform a lobotomy, designed to sever the connection between the frontal lobes and the thalamus. Freeman would enter the brain through the upper eye socket using an ice pick.

The article mentions the famous case of Rosemary Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy, who was left permanently disabled after a lobotomy, and also features an interview with one of Freeman’s patients.

This program will be shown locally on WQED at 9 p.m. on Monday January 21. The documentary is based on a biography of Freeman by Jack El-Hai, a book that is on my list to read.

Margaret L. Signorella