I Change Reality Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

If you saw or read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, you will remember how Randal P. Mac Murphy, got lobotomized near the end of the story.

Lobotomy was something very common at the time.One man stood against this wrong and he has never been given thanks. Dr Robert Grimm “changed reality”, he wrote and made a bill law in the 1960’s, that made lobotomy illegal in Oregon. It was the first law of its kind and this made it possible for others to do the same in other states as well.

When I spoke to Dr Grimm, he told me he felt that both lobotomies and electro-shock therapy were being used to make the jobs of people working in mental health easier, not for the best interest of the patient. He said it was only natural that someone would say they felt better after being tortured, so they would not have to endure the experience again. Dr. Grimm is someone I personally admire as a man of intellect, compassion and courage. He is the most gentle person and yet he fought a courageous battle to make the lives of everyone better. Freedom of thought and emotion is something we all benefited from because of Dr. Grimm. Our culture is not just shaped by how we treat the privileged but by how we treat those that are suffering. Dr. Grimm told me he felt it was less than human to remove the personality of a person by doing damage to them. “We are complex beings and we sometimes require time, understanding and compassion to heal.” Dr. Grimm told me that when discussing lobotomies with people that used them, he asked them if they were a specific treatment for something? He said he would tell the person doing lobotomies, with as much care and love he could, that removing a persons personality in order to remove their problem, could not be a specific treatment for anything. Dr Grimm said, “We all start wanting to make a difference and help, a human being’s mind is complex, helping them requires work and patience. To heal someone we must first have empathy, it may be hard or frustrating but most of all we have to remember not to do harm.”

Dr Robert Grimm has had many wonderful accomplishments during his life. Dr. Grimm did research on how vehicular accidents were doing soft tissue damage to a person’s inner ear. The inner ear damage, sometimes made a person use their eyes and thinking mind to keep their balance. This made a person have difficulty thinking as clearly after an accident.

Dr. Grimm was afflicted with Polio from a very young age. He told me he thought one of his best tools was the scooter he needed to use. “I see people that have suffered a great deal, in my practice. I am able to feel compassion and work to help them but I think my disability has given them hope, that they may also have productive lives after what has happened to them.” Dr. Grimm is a humble man, he is a genius, a family man, a healer, a bird lover and my hero.

Dr Robert Grimm is the first recipient of the I Change Reality, Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Grimm helped me a great deal the last few years with this work, his expertise in Neurology, clarity of mind as well as his compassion have made this possible. I am proud to know him as a friend.

Dr. Robert Grimm, Neurologist,