Doctor Ice Pick
- Downloads：7793
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-06-01 17:21:35
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Claire Prentice
- ISBN：B09X6QV51N
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Chloe
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I found Doctor Ice Pick utterly engrossing。 The subject matter is tough but don’t let that put you off。 It is very readable and provides a fascinating snapshot of a time when lobotomy was seen as a miracle cure。 I liked the way the author told the story through Freeman’s campaign in West Virginia， known as Operation Ice Pick。 Prentice has clearly done a huge amount of research but she wears it lightly and the action clips along at a fast pace without being sensationalist。 I was particularly move I found Doctor Ice Pick utterly engrossing。 The subject matter is tough but don’t let that put you off。 It is very readable and provides a fascinating snapshot of a time when lobotomy was seen as a miracle cure。 I liked the way the author told the story through Freeman’s campaign in West Virginia， known as Operation Ice Pick。 Prentice has clearly done a huge amount of research but she wears it lightly and the action clips along at a fast pace without being sensationalist。 I was particularly moved that she included the stories of patients and their families who are all too often overlooked。 One of the best things I’ve read in a long time。 。。。more
Samantha
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Dr。 Walter Freeman literally is THE WORST- the most arrogant， stubborn， sexist and infuriating man。 Doctor Ice Pick is the disgusting and engrossing journey into the life of Dr。 Walter Freeman as he beguiles， enchants and hammers his way into the brains of hundreds of men， women and children in the 1950s。 It's been a LONG time since I was thoroughly livid about a book， but reading Doctor Ice Pick had steam coming out of my ears。 I'm absolutely fascinated by non-fiction centered around science an Dr。 Walter Freeman literally is THE WORST- the most arrogant， stubborn， sexist and infuriating man。 Doctor Ice Pick is the disgusting and engrossing journey into the life of Dr。 Walter Freeman as he beguiles， enchants and hammers his way into the brains of hundreds of men， women and children in the 1950s。 It's been a LONG time since I was thoroughly livid about a book， but reading Doctor Ice Pick had steam coming out of my ears。 I'm absolutely fascinated by non-fiction centered around science and medicine， especially when it dives back into some of the archaic procedures used in the past。 I LOVED this and felt that even though it was non-fiction it was really fast-paced and it's the perfect length！ Claire doesn't bog you down with too much technical detail and therefore the storyline flows nicely into soooo many WHAT THE HECKO moments you'll have to pick your jaw up from the floor。 I cannot wait to look into all the books and articles referenced within。 As horrific as this TRUE short story as， it's fascinating to a science junkie like myself！Thanks to Netgalley， Claire Prentice and the publisher for the DRC！ 。。。more
PattyMacDotComma
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3★“Freeman was a natural showman， and from the start， he had aggressively courted the press， taking them out to lunch， feeding them pithy sound bites， and inviting them and their wives to sit in on operations。”That’s not what I’d be looking for in a brain surgeon， but then he wasn’t one， technically。 He was a doctor who made a name for himself in the middle of the 20th century by performing lobotomies through the eye socket， near the tear ducts， one eye at a time。 He liked to time himself， see h 3★“Freeman was a natural showman， and from the start， he had aggressively courted the press， taking them out to lunch， feeding them pithy sound bites， and inviting them and their wives to sit in on operations。”That’s not what I’d be looking for in a brain surgeon， but then he wasn’t one， technically。 He was a doctor who made a name for himself in the middle of the 20th century by performing lobotomies through the eye socket， near the tear ducts， one eye at a time。 He liked to time himself， see how fast he could tap in and cut through the connection in the brain， and when he had a good audience， he liked to do both eyes at the same time， one with each hand， like some kind of circus performer。The author says procedure was “described in the pages of the New York Times as ‘history-making 。 。 。 a shining example of therapeutic courage’ that ‘cuts away sick parts of the human personality。’The reality could be very different。”I’m old enough that I remember hearing about some of this。 Freeman lived in a well-to-do part of the country， but he was next door to one of the poorest states in America， West Virginia。 The hospitals sound Dickensian。“If a patient was incontinent， they were tied to the toilet or left naked in a room with a cement floor where they sat in pools of urine and feces。 There weren’t enough staff to keep everyone clean。。 。 。 Far from unique， the desperate conditions at Huntington were replicated in hospitals across America。”Hospitals overwhelmed by the numbers of extremely difficult patients were keen to take up Freeman’s offer to make people well enough to leave， “his catchphrase， ‘Lobotomy gets them home。’”This is not for the faint-hearted but it is an excellent account of the man and some of the famous patients who underwent this treatment， such as Rosemary Kennedy， JFK’s sister， who was made worse and hidden away forever。 Some were improved， some became like children， some were badly damaged， or even died。When I looked up one of the footnotes to a 2008 ‘Guardian’ article， I realised the quote I was double-checking may not have been from Freeman， but from one of his former patients who wrote a book （with a journalist） that the newspaper article was about。 I don’t know how much original research the author did， but the article covers much of the same ground。https://www。theguardian。com/science/2。。。Wikipedia has extensive information on Freeman， as well， but I did appreciate that if I’d not seen this Amazon offering， I might never have stumbled across his story – and it IS both fascinating and terrifying。Incidentally， the Kindle version is very messy reading since the footnotes all appear in the same typeface right in the middle of pages， depending on the size font you use。 The PDF version is spaced out properly with footnotes at the bottom。 I don’t know if you can download PDFs from Amazon or not， but NetGalley has the option。Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the copy for review。 。。。more
Lauren
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This was a short， disturbing nonfiction book about a horrific man named Walter Freeman， the American "pioneer" of prefrontal and transorbital lobotomies。 Freeman was a neuroscientist （NOT a doctor or surgeon）， who learned of lobotomies after watching its founder， Antonio Moniz， perform them。 When he saw the results， he was determined to bring it to the US。 Although he claimed to do it for the good of the patients， it was obvious that he had ulterior motives。 He always aspired towards greatness a This was a short， disturbing nonfiction book about a horrific man named Walter Freeman， the American "pioneer" of prefrontal and transorbital lobotomies。 Freeman was a neuroscientist （NOT a doctor or surgeon）， who learned of lobotomies after watching its founder， Antonio Moniz， perform them。 When he saw the results， he was determined to bring it to the US。 Although he claimed to do it for the good of the patients， it was obvious that he had ulterior motives。 He always aspired towards greatness and celebrity， and he saw lobotomies as an obvious way to get there。 Freeman approached the West Virginia state government and mental health system with a simple value proposition。 At the time， their mental hospitals and asylums were overcrowded， underfunded， disgusting， inhumane hellholes of "medical facilities" - the stereotypical kind of place that you see in old movies or American Horror Story， with unqualified people treating patients horrifically， patients chained to toilets or kept in rooms surrounded by urine and feces， dozens and dozens of patients to a room。 Freeman said he had a simple way to make this situation better and save the state a lot of money: he would go into these hospitals， lobotomize dozens of people in a day， and， according to his research， a good percentage of them would be well enough to go back to their families after the operation。 Enticed by the economic proposition， Freeman's utterly charming persona， and the numbers that Freeman brought with him on success rates， the state government agreed to fund Operation Ice Pick。 （Lobotomies were initially done by drilling holes into the patient's skull， but Freeman found an easier way to do it: he modified the instrument used after being inspired by an ice pick he found in his house， and began inserting that device into patients' eye sockets to perform the operation。） Freeman lobotomized over 900 men， women， and children in West Virginia state hospitals， and could have performed as many as 4，000 lobotomies in 23 states in his career。 According to Freeman， Operation Ice Pick was a success: he said around 40-50% of patients were able to go home， and that means everything worked out。 But what he leaves out is that several patients died on the operating table， some lost all motor function or impulse control， and the vast majority of "success stories" came away with no personality， no spark， no soul， and no joy for life。 We now consider lobotomies to be an inhumane form of mental health treatment， but at the time， they were common - at first， as a last resort for when other treatments failed， but Freeman began using them somewhat arbitrarily to cure anything from cancer to anxiety to schizophrenia。 The book is short， but packs a punch。 It describes Freeman and his cult of personality， the history and science of lobotomies， the dangers and aftereffects of the procedure， how lobotomies slowly phased out， and Freeman's legacy。 There are many patient stories that stick with you， but I was shocked at the story of Howard Dully。 He was a young boy whose stepmother approached Freeman complaining that he wouldn't listen to her， he wouldn't go to sleep even when he was tired， he would wear a sweater outside on sunny days， and he refused to take a shower。 （Sounds like any other young boy， right？） In response to this behavior， Freeman lobotomized this twelve-year-old boy （instead of recommending any other treatment） - and it didn't fix his behavior at all， in fact， his behavior became worse because lobotomies are known to destroy impulse control。 His parents ultimately gave him up to be a ward of the state。 Now， Dully is 70 years old， married， and has a career in computer science - but it took him more than 30 years to get his life back on track after his lobotomy。 He even wrote a book about it， which I'm now interested in reading: My Lobotomy: A Memoir。 Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley！ Highly recommend this book for anyone interested in disturbing nonfiction， medical history， and lessons learned from history。 。。。more
Kristi Betts
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I was introduced to the lobotomy practices of Dr。 Freeman from a podcast。 It was very interesting to read more about the procedures he performed on so many people。 I discovered I would be one of the people considered for a lobotomy and it made me thankful I was not in the vicinity or hospital in which these horrible practices were a common practice。It is hard for me to believe these malicious acts could be performed on a human being， not only while they were awake， but for any reason。 A doctor's I was introduced to the lobotomy practices of Dr。 Freeman from a podcast。 It was very interesting to read more about the procedures he performed on so many people。 I discovered I would be one of the people considered for a lobotomy and it made me thankful I was not in the vicinity or hospital in which these horrible practices were a common practice。It is hard for me to believe these malicious acts could be performed on a human being， not only while they were awake， but for any reason。 A doctor's charge is to do no harm。 I cannot imagine this would be considered under this mantra。For historical reasons， DOCTOR ICE PICK is an interesting read， though hard to imagine the poor people who had to endure these techniques。 。。。more
Brigette
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This short non-fiction story details some of the history of Walter Freeman， who popularized the lobotomy in the United States。Full disclosure: I am an archivist and librarian at George Washington University， where Freeman worked。 We also have the Freeman Watts archival collection， which is quite massive。 A large portion of this collection is closed due to researchers because these are patient records and are covered by DC mental health laws。 The only people able to view those records are patient This short non-fiction story details some of the history of Walter Freeman， who popularized the lobotomy in the United States。Full disclosure: I am an archivist and librarian at George Washington University， where Freeman worked。 We also have the Freeman Watts archival collection， which is quite massive。 A large portion of this collection is closed due to researchers because these are patient records and are covered by DC mental health laws。 The only people able to view those records are patients themselves or those with power of attorney。That said， there are still many many boxes that could have been researched from， both the perspective of Freeman， Watts， and GW。 The author did not do this。 I feel this was a great disservice to this story - the author kind of focused on the West Virginia part of Freeman's work， but there would have been much greater depth of information had the author used the actual archives at GW。 There is one reference to GW archives， but the quotes are from others published books and articles and not new research。 If they did do research here， they did not do citations。 Many more citations were also needed in general。 For example， the author mentions that Freeman had a nervous breakdown but this is not cited。 Where was this info from？ Other details of Freeman's activities are very lacking in citations and proof。 The book also made the case that Freeman focused on women who were in institutions。 This is also not fully true - people not institutionalized were lobotomized。 Men would bring in their wives because the wives were unhappy， and would have a lobotomy done on them。 Really the women should have just gotten a divorce。If you have a slight interest in this history， I guess this is somewhere to start。 But there is a LOT lacking and unproven statements。 Thank you NetGalley for the ARC。 。。。more
Sarah
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"Doctor Ice Pick" was a horrifying read: learning about how easily doctors were allowed to perform life-altering surgeries during the early 20th century without having to provide scientific and unreprovable evidence of their method's success was horrifying and I （probably futilely） hope that something like this can't happen today。 "Doctor Ice Pick" was a horrifying read: learning about how easily doctors were allowed to perform life-altering surgeries during the early 20th century without having to provide scientific and unreprovable evidence of their method's success was horrifying and I （probably futilely） hope that something like this can't happen today。 。。。more
Dani Boise
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