Haunting before-and-after pictures reveal how notorious medic tried to sell the procedure that ruined life of JFK's sister
1- This woman was described as 'the meanest woman' when she was pictured (left) in March 1942, before the lobotomy. In the second picture two weeks later she is described as 'giggling a lot' but has lost much of her hair
2- Decline: In this image, the female patient is seen smiling (left) six months after the lobotomy operation, but five years later (right) the now-discredited procedure has taken its toll
3- This woman was one of Walter Freeman's lobotomy patients. He claimed the woman weighed 85lbs in the left-hand picture, before the lobotomy, and 210lbs afterwards, in the right-hand picture three years later
4- Advertising: A before-and-after shot of a 27-year-old patient who Walter Freeman said was suffering from catatonic schizophrenia before the procedure. She is pictured smiling 16 months later
5- Another woman, aged 40, who was said to have been suffering from catatonic schizophrenia is seen smiling a year later (right) in one of Freeman's advertising pictures after undergoing a lobotomy
6- The picture on the left was taken on May 6, 1942, before the lobotomy, when the patient was quoted as saying 'God, I'm getting ready to blow up.' On the after picture, taken in September 1946, it is written that he is 'Employed and going to night school'
7- This patient was a 32-year-old telephone operator who had already had a lobotomy when the picture was taken, left, in February 1936 but was still suffering with illness. The picture on the right is taken three years later, with Freeman saying that 'she is no longer bothered by her fears and obsession', but the procedure also appears to have aged her
8- In the before picture (left) this woman is described as having suffered depression of four years with a constant complaint of a painful eye. In the second picture (right) taken one year after her operation, she is described as being 'indolent and euphoric, and subject to convulsive seizures, but she made no complaints'
9- This woman was suffering from schizophrenia when she underwent Freeman's lobotomy in 1948. In the right-hand picture she is seen apparently looking well and it is written that she continued well for six months afterwards
10- Freeman said this patient was worried because he couldn't find a job, and couldn't find a job because he worried so much. The picture on the right is taken December 1940 and it's written that the lobotomy broke through his vicious circle and he found a job and peace of mind.
11- Freeman stated that this woman was schizophrenic and all that could be done was to turn her into a 'veritable household pet'.
12- Freeman's caption on this image reads: 'The change in personality suggested here is typical of that which usually follows prefrontal lobotomy. The patient is shown before the operation in the picture at the left, and seventeen months after lobotomy at the right'
13- A before and after shot of a little boy that underwent a lobotomy at the hands of Walter Freeman. It was stated that the eight-year-old boy was suffering from schizophrenia before the operation and had to be caged in the basement
14- The before image of this patient is dated October 1940 and she is decribed as having been 'agitated five years.' In the after picture, taken in September 1941, she is quoted as saying 'I'm hungry right after I eat.'
15- A before and after shot of a patient, aged 49, who underwent a lobotomy at the hands of Walter Freeman, date unknown. She is shown smiling in the second picture as Freeman tried to sell his controversial procedure
16- The pictures of this lobotomy patient are taken just one day apart and it is stated that the patient had been restrained for two years due to extreme violence
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