“Lobotomies, Pain Guns, and Shredded Data: Patient H.M. and the Ethics of Human Experimentation”

The Assembly Series, Washington University’s signature lecture series, enjoys a long and rich tradition. When the speaker series was established in 1953, its programs were held Wednesdays at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel, and no classes were scheduled so the entire campus community could assemble.

Abstract for this event

“Memories make us. Everything we are is everything we were.” Luke Dittrich, author of “Patient H.M: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets”

For 27-year-old Henry Molaison, the precious ability to store memories was taken away from him during an experimental lobotomy and it changed his life – and the history of memory research – forever.

In his conversation with Professor Rebecca Messbarger, Dittrich will describe the fascinating true story of “Patient H.M.” and will explore how Molaison’s story raises troubling questions about research ethics, exploitation, and informed consent: Given his severe incapacitation due to memory loss, how does one determine whether Molaison understood what he was consenting to as a life-long research subject?

Learn more: Assembly Series.

For more information please contact Kurt Mueller at 314-935-4620.