Image by : Museum of Failure
19/27
Orbitoclast
1935-1967
A lobotomy was a surgical procedure where nerves in the front of the brain were cut to treat psychiatric symptoms such as severe anxiety, depression and obsessions. The procedure was so revolutionary that the Portuguese physician who invented it was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949. The patient was made unconscious with electric shocks, and then a pointed instrument was hammered into the upper part of the eye socket, about seven centimeters into the brain. The instrument was called an orbitoclast. The method was particularly popular in Scandinavia where nearly 10,000 patients were operated on. For mental hospitals, the lobotomy was popular because patients required less care. But it was no good for the patients, caused great suffering and many deaths.