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OVARIOTOMY
While the procedure known as an ovariotomy, also known as oophorectomy or Battey’s operation, is thought to be performed when the ovaries are diseased, this procedure was done on women in the mid-19th century as an attempt to treat mental disorders on those with normal reproductive organs. The history of this procedure, characterized by the removal of either one or both normal ovaries, began in 1809, When Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, which later led him to be known as the “Father of Ovariotomy”. It wasn’t until August 17, 1872, that Dr. Robert Battey performed the first of an alleged several hundred ovariotomies in attempts to cure mental disorders.
On that day, Julia Ormberg became the first woman to undergo the procedure in attempts to cure many symptoms—such as extreme cramps and pelvic inflammation—that occurred with her menstrual cycle. These symptoms, that had consequently led Julia to become addicted to morphine, were seemingly cured within weeks of her recovery from the operation. Of the first seven cases treated by Battey, two women had only slight improvement and 2 died. Battey had to alter his methods with each procedure, starting from the vaginal route and eventually coming to the procedure’s final state of extracting the ovaries from an opening made in the abdomen. Overtime, this procedure became a fashionable treatment for menstrual madness, neurasthenia, nymphomania, masturbation, and overall “all cases of insanity.”
Dr. James Marion Sims had also adopted the procedure and stated that in the first few of his cases, one woman died, two became worse, and one woman had to be abandoned mid-procedure. The idea that a woman’s mental state was influenced by her reproductive organs became a controversial topic that led to doubts of the surgery as proper treatment for those with health reproductive organs. Battey was using the procedure as a sort of artificial menopause that seemed to diminish the effects of these women’s mental disorders. Opposers of the surgery as use of treatment for mental disorders called those who performed it “gynecological perverts.” Today, this surgery is only performed on those with diseases such as cysts and tumors, with physicians trying to preserve as much of the organ as they possibly can.
Sources:
Longo, L. (1979). The rise and fall of Battey’s operation: a fashion in surgery. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 53(2), 244–267.
Schlich, T. (2015). Cutting the body to cure the mind. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(5), 390–392. doi: 10.1016/s2215-0366(15)00188-1
Studd, J. (2006). Ovariotomy for menstrual madness and premenstrual syndrome - 19th century history and lessons for current practice. Gynecological Endocrinology, 22(8), 411–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/09513590600881503
The National Library Of Medicine. (1882). “Doctor Performing Ovariotomy; Anesthetic and Steam Spray Being Used.” Retrieved from http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101434469
Winslow, Terese. (2014). “Reproductive System, Female, Anatomy.” Retrieved from https://visualsonline.cancer.gov/details.cfm?imageid=8262