“Then help me understand, Robert. Let’s do this together. Have you seen the early work on chlorpromazine? They’re saying it is as effective as lobotomy—but clearly less extreme.”
“My procedure is not extreme! And it doesn’t need to be given repeatedly. It provides permanent improvement all at once, and forever.”
“But does it? I know your motivations are good, but it’s time to look for new solutions. The tides are shifting in our professional community. And it scares me that you don’t seem to be moving with them.”
“In the past few years, I have been welcomed as a hero in more than twenty-three states and twice as many hospitals. It seems to me like you are the one not seeing the direction of change. Yes, there have been some bad outcomes. Because humans are imperfect beings!”
“All I want is the best for my patients. What am I supposed to do when I see so many failing to thrive after this procedure that was supposed to save them?”
He stood up, pushing his chair back violently. “You are supposed to trust that I, Robert Apter, am a competent enough clinician, an accomplished enough neurologist, to properly treat and diagnose my patients. You are supposed to support me and my procedure, the one I invented that established your hospital and remade the course of treatment across this whole country. You are supposed to believe in me as my wife, stop questioning me about things you can’t possibly understand, and know your goddamned role!”
Ruth sat still in her chair, stunned, wounded, scared. She had been bullied like this in the past, but never by Robert. The little girl inside her might have had to take it from her father, but she would not take it from her husband. She stood to face him.
“My role, Robert, is to run my hospital. And in that role, I no longer feel comfortable with lobotomy. Can’t we put our heads together and look for new options? I’m sure that we can pioneer something incredible.”
“Pioneer something incredible? You really don’t get it, do you? I don’t need to pioneer anything—I am the inventor of the ten-minute lobotomy, the miracle cure! I am in demand all over the country. I have months-long waiting lists for private patients. Do what you want at Emeraldine; your little hospital is of no consequence to me or my success.” Robert turned abruptly and marched out the front door, slamming it behind him.
Ruth sat back down, stupefied. The level of vitriol he had just unleashed on her was well beyond anything she had believed him capable of. She felt suddenly like she had just come back to shore after a long time at sea—her equilibrium was off, and she couldn’t discern whether or not the ground beneath her was moving. The entire world she had built was falling down around her. What she had believed was her greatest contribution to mental health was not a cure, but a curse. The man she loved and trusted was lost to his ego, choosing his legacy over the truth. And now, he had to be stopped no matter the consequences, and she was the only one who could do it.
PART 4
RUTH AND MARGARET: JUNE 1953
Chapter Forty-One
Ruth felt like she had whiplash. As she watched the taillights of Robert’s car recede into the distance, she had an impulse. Nothing in Jeremy’s report made a strong enough case against lobotomy to stop Robert for good. But, perhaps, something in his private files would. Ruth hurriedly made her way to the carriage house. She didn’t know how long Robert would be gone, but she hoped she could find something, anything, that would help her expose the truth.
Ruth felt like an intruder. Infringing upon the sanctity of a therapist’s treatment room was an utter violation. But the urgency of her mission dwarfed moral code.
She walked directly to the wall of filing cabinets where Robert kept exacting notes on his patients. Surely she’d find something here that would help make her case. She opened several drawers, feeling aimless—what, exactly, was she looking for?—until a bulging packet caught her eye. The name on the label didn’t look familiar to her, yet the case filled three complete hanging sleeves. Who might this be?