Editorial from the Lufkin Daily News
EDITORIAL: Nobel Foundation should revoke prize given to doctor who began lobotomiesThe Lufkin Daily News
Thursday, July 14, 2005
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Egas Moniz in 1936 came up with the idea of cutting through nerve fibers connecting the brain's frontal lobe — which controls thinking — with other parts of the brain, with the hope mental illnesses would go away once the new nerve connections were formed.
Lobotomy hasn't been used since the 1970s, but now some relatives of people who underwent the procedure are trying to get Moniz's 1949 Nobel Prize revoked because of modern views about how barbaric the procedure was, according to an Associated Press story.
It seems pointless to take away the medal now, considering Moniz has been dead for 50 years. Except for one thing: “How can anyone trust the Nobel Committee when they won't admit to such a terrible mistake?”
That's a question posed to the AP by Christine Johnson of Levittown, N.Y., whose grandmother was lobotomized in 1954 after other treatments for her delusional behavior were unsuccessful. Johnson, a medical librarian, started a campaign to have Moniz's prize revoked.
Truth be told, there's not much chance the Nobel Foundation will act on the request. Its charter includes no provision for appealing a prize that has been awarded, and the foundation traditionally ignores criticism of its awards — such as in the case of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Peace Prize, according to Nobel Foundation executive director Michael Sohlman.
We think now's a good time to come up with an addition to the Nobel Foundation's charter that lets it correct the committee's occasional error in judgment. Then it could take away the 1949 prize, or at least admit the committee was wrong to award it — for integrity's sake, as Johnson suggested.
Thankfully, there are medicines and procedures today that help people cope with mental illness more effectively, in much more humane ways. It's unfortunate that the Nobel Foundation still has a prize on record for the horrible treatment that was lobotomy.
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Thank you Lufkin Daily News!
http://tinyurl.com/buq8n
Thursday, July 14, 2005
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Egas Moniz in 1936 came up with the idea of cutting through nerve fibers connecting the brain's frontal lobe — which controls thinking — with other parts of the brain, with the hope mental illnesses would go away once the new nerve connections were formed.
Lobotomy hasn't been used since the 1970s, but now some relatives of people who underwent the procedure are trying to get Moniz's 1949 Nobel Prize revoked because of modern views about how barbaric the procedure was, according to an Associated Press story.
It seems pointless to take away the medal now, considering Moniz has been dead for 50 years. Except for one thing: “How can anyone trust the Nobel Committee when they won't admit to such a terrible mistake?”
That's a question posed to the AP by Christine Johnson of Levittown, N.Y., whose grandmother was lobotomized in 1954 after other treatments for her delusional behavior were unsuccessful. Johnson, a medical librarian, started a campaign to have Moniz's prize revoked.
Truth be told, there's not much chance the Nobel Foundation will act on the request. Its charter includes no provision for appealing a prize that has been awarded, and the foundation traditionally ignores criticism of its awards — such as in the case of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Peace Prize, according to Nobel Foundation executive director Michael Sohlman.
We think now's a good time to come up with an addition to the Nobel Foundation's charter that lets it correct the committee's occasional error in judgment. Then it could take away the 1949 prize, or at least admit the committee was wrong to award it — for integrity's sake, as Johnson suggested.
Thankfully, there are medicines and procedures today that help people cope with mental illness more effectively, in much more humane ways. It's unfortunate that the Nobel Foundation still has a prize on record for the horrible treatment that was lobotomy.
---------
Thank you Lufkin Daily News!
http://tinyurl.com/buq8n
posted by Christine at Monday, August 01, 2005
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