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Doctor Ice Pick
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
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Doctor Ice Pick
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Summary
A haunting and true short story of the lobotomist who cut a brutal swathe through the lives of thousands of vulnerable Americans from the author of Miracle at Coney Island.
In July 1952, Dr. Walter Freeman arrived at the gates of a West Virginia asylum. In his medical bag he carried two metal picks and a surgical hammer. He had invented a “cheap, easy” ten-minute lobotomy. The press described it as a miracle cure, a new frontier in psychosurgery.
That summer, in just twelve days, Freeman lobotomized 228 men, women, and children in West Virginia’s public mental hospitals. His blitzkrieg of brain surgery became known as “Operation Ice Pick,” named after the tools he wielded.
To some, the doctor was a hero, solving the crisis facing the nation’s underfunded and overcrowded psychiatric institutions. But many who watched him operate saw a dangerous risk-taker, a showman and a charlatan. This is the true story of a scientific pioneer whose misguided quest created one of the biggest tragedies in American medical history.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cheerful Dragon
- 04-07-23
Short and not sweet
A tale of how blind self-belief and showmanship can ruin the lives of vulnerable people.
For once, an author sticks to the story they are telling and doesn't divert along more-or-less irrelevant sidelines. The history of Dr Freeman's lobotomies is harrowing. Throughout the book I was horrified that a man with no qualifications in neurosurgery could inflict so much harm on so many people. The desire/need of West Virginia to save money on healthcare does not absolve them of blame. Freeman's refusal to consider other treatments, his lack of rigour in collecting evidence of the effectiveness of lobotomies and his blindness to the harm he was doing rank him among the worst of doctors.
I'm not sure why an American narrator was chosen for this book, other than the American setting. Whatever the reason, the accent didn't grate and the voice was pleasant. The narrator managed to hold my interest in the story. Worth listening to, but only worth a credit if you're really interested in the subject.
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