Name Kept from the Record

On November 20, 1941, a twenty-three-year-old woman was brought to George Washington University Hospital, strapped to an operating table, and kept conscious throughout the procedure that would end her life as she had known it. Surgeons drilled holes in her skull, inserted metal spatulas, and severed the connections of her prefrontal cortex while asking her to sing "God Bless America" and count bac...