Robert Foster Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Robert Foster Kennedy was an Irish-American neurologist
.
Foster Kennedy studied medicine
at Belfast University and took his final exams at the Royal University of Ireland
/Dublin. After graduating in 1906 he worked at the National Hospital, Queen's Square (London
) where he was influenced by brilliant neuroscientists such as Sir William Gowers
, John Hughlings Jackson
, Sir Victor Horsley
and Sir Henry Head
. In 1910 Foster Kennedy was invited to come to the recently established New York
Neurological Institute. The outbreak of World War I
brought him back to Europe
where he founded a French Military Hospital and subsequently served with a British unit. In 1915 he visited Chateau d'Annel, another front line hospital run by Julia Catlin Park Taufflieb. Working close to the front line he had several narrow escapes, and was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by France
.
After the war he worked in the Bellevue Hospital, New York
, where one of his colleagues was Samuel Kinnier Wilson
. Foster Kennedy became professor of neurology at Cornell University
and in 1940 was elected president of the "American Neurological Association
".
Kennedy supported widespread eugenical sterilization and castration.
At the 1941 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, he called for the extermination of incurably severely retarded children over the age of five. His goal was to relieve "the utterly unfit" and "nature's mistakes" of the "agony of living" and to save their parents and the state the cost of caring for them. He concluded, "So the place for euthanasia, I believe, is for the completely hopeless defective; nature's mistake; something we hustle out of sight, which should not have been seen at all" (p. 15).
"Foster Kennedy, while professor of neurology at Cornell University in New York, argued that all children with proven mental retardation ("feeblemindedness") over the age of five should be put to death."
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
.
Foster Kennedy studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at Belfast University and took his final exams at the Royal University of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
/Dublin. After graduating in 1906 he worked at the National Hospital, Queen's Square (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) where he was influenced by brilliant neuroscientists such as Sir William Gowers
William Richard Gowers
Sir William Richard Gowers was a British neurologist.The Gowers' tract is named after him....
, John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson
John Hughlings Jackson, FRS , was an English neurologist.- Biography :He was born at Providence Green, Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh revenue collector...
, Sir Victor Horsley
Victor Horsley
Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley was an accomplished scientist and professor. He was born in Kensington, London. He was educated at Cranbrook School, Kent and studied medicine at University College London and in Berlin, Germany , and in the same year started his career as a house surgeon and...
and Sir Henry Head
Henry Head
Sir Henry Head, FRS was an English neurologist who conducted pioneering work into the somatosensory system and sensory nerves. Much of this work was conducted on himself, in collaboration with the psychiatrist W. H. R. Rivers, by severing and reconnecting sensory nerves and mapping how sensation...
. In 1910 Foster Kennedy was invited to come to the recently established New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Neurological Institute. The outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
brought him back to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
where he founded a French Military Hospital and subsequently served with a British unit. In 1915 he visited Chateau d'Annel, another front line hospital run by Julia Catlin Park Taufflieb. Working close to the front line he had several narrow escapes, and was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
After the war he worked in the Bellevue Hospital, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where one of his colleagues was Samuel Kinnier Wilson
Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson
Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson was a British neurologist who was the first to describe Wilson's disease.-Biography:...
. Foster Kennedy became professor of neurology at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and in 1940 was elected president of the "American Neurological Association
American Neurological Association
The American Neurological Association, is a professional society with a mission of educating neurologists and physicians as well as increasing knowledge and enhancing treatment of diseases of the nervous system. It was founded in June 1875.-Officers:...
".
Kennedy supported widespread eugenical sterilization and castration.
At the 1941 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, he called for the extermination of incurably severely retarded children over the age of five. His goal was to relieve "the utterly unfit" and "nature's mistakes" of the "agony of living" and to save their parents and the state the cost of caring for them. He concluded, "So the place for euthanasia, I believe, is for the completely hopeless defective; nature's mistake; something we hustle out of sight, which should not have been seen at all" (p. 15).
"Foster Kennedy, while professor of neurology at Cornell University in New York, argued that all children with proven mental retardation ("feeblemindedness") over the age of five should be put to death."