More than 300 mentally handicapped Danes, including children, were lobotomised between 1947 and 1983 and many died from the operation, according to a report in AFP. Historian Jesper Vaczy Kragh outlined to the Danish media the findings of a book to be published next month: "Doctors did not count on curing them completely, but wanted to pacify them, perhaps to better their condition… The results of such operations generally were not good, and some 7.6 percent did not survive.”

"What happened with people with mental handicaps is worse than what happened with psychiatric patients," he said. Many operations were performed on children as young as six, even though their brains were not yet completely developed.

Between 1947 and 1983, when lobotomies were banned in Denmark, around 4,500 Danes had the operation. But few people were aware that many mentally handicapped people were subjected to the procedure.

The president of the national association of handicapped people, Sytter Kristensen, was shocked. "Those were highly educated people (doctors) who were taking advantage of defenseless people without being sure of having the slightest positive result," she told the newspaper Kristelig Dagbladet.

Health Minister Bertel Haarder said that doctors ignored the dignity of the children. "The explanation is that, for a long time, mentally handicapped people were not regarded as equal. Their lives were considered to be without value," he said. ~ AFP, Sept 24