American Experience, 2008

Now considered one the most infamous medical mistakes in American history, lobotomy began as an idealistic remedy for mental illness. In the mid-1930's, as America's state mental hospitals were indundated with patients, conditions for the mentally ill deteriorated rapidly. Asylum doctors were helpless to treat conditions that had eluded understanding. But one charismatic doctor, Walter J. Freeman, believed he had found the answer to "removing the sting" of mental illness. Freeman's solution - to operate on the frontal lobes of mentally ill patients - was not only accepted, but embraced by mainstream medicine desperate to solve a problem which had defied any other solutions. It was not until 1960's, after more than 30,000 lobotomies had been performed, that the misguided medical experiment ended.

The story of how one man's energy and conviction could lead medicine down a blind alley, The Lobotomist is as scarily relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

Produced and Directed by: Barak Goodman and John Maggio
Written by: Barak Goodman

Film Website & video clip to come.