William Beecher Scoville

William Beecher Scoville (January 13, 1906 - February 25, 1984) was a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital. He performed surgery on Henry Gustav Molaison in 1953 to relieve epilepsy that led to damage of Molaison's hippocampus and left him with memory disorder.[1]

Biography

He was born on January 13, 1906. In 1953 he performed surgery on Henry Gustav Molaison. In 1965 a lawsuit was brought against him for malpractice. In the suit the patient claimed they made promises of positive outcomes from the surgery.[2][3] Scoville died as the result of a car crash on February 25, 1984.

References

  1. ^ Benedict Carey (December 4, 2008). "H. M., an Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05hm.html. Retrieved 2008-12-05. "Eighteen years after that bicycle accident, Mr. Molaison arrived at the office of Dr. William Beecher Scoville, a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital. Mr. Molaison was blacking out frequently, had devastating convulsions and could no longer repair motors to earn a living. After exhausting other treatments, Dr. Scoville decided to surgically remove two finger-shaped slivers of tissue from Mr. Molaison’s brain. The seizures abated, but the procedure — especially cutting into the hippocampus, an area deep in the brain, about level with the ears — left the patient radically changed." 
  2. ^ "He Didn't 'Guarantee' Success, Surgeon Says". Hartford Courant. October 9, 1965. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/924751052.html?dids=924751052:924751052&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+09,+1965&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=He+Didn't+'Guarantee'+Success,+Surgeon+Says&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-12-09. "Dr. William Beecher Scoville, an internationally - known Hartford neurosurgeon, denied Friday that he had given a former patient any guarantee of success in connection with an operation on the patient. ... unless a tumor or blood vessel problem was discovered during surgery. ..." 
  3. ^ "Jury Rejects Claims Against Dr. Scoville". Hartford Courant. October 22, 1965. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/923533842.html?dids=923533842:923533842&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+22,+1965&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Jury+Rejects+Claims+Against+Dr.+Scoville&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-12-09. "A $150000 malpractice suit against Dr. William Beecher Scoville, chief of neurosurgery at Hartford Hospital and an internationally known surgeon, ..."