From "Notes From a Subterranean Library in Oregon," a compilation of Ray Peat's newspaper letters and columns, compiled by T3Uncoupled (2023). Originally published 1985.

Ray Peat, "Dangerous therapy", p. 51

I hope that the kind of information Sarah Stewart provides in her long reply to Mr. Frank’s letter is not the kind of information that doctors give to patients in obtaining their “informed consent.” In such drastic and permanent “therapies” as electroconvulsive and “leukotomy” or “psychosurgery,” practically no properly controlled studies have been done. In one controlled study, the electrodes were applied to the patients’ legs, instead of the head, and the beneficial effects were just as good — and the risk of brain damage was obviously less. Physicians are careful to warn the public of the need for controlled studies before therapies using natural substances can be accepted; shouldn’t removal of part of the brain have an equivalent scientific evaluation? The judgment of the person who administers the treatment is often accepted in evaluating “psychosurgery.” The machines for administering electroshock were required by law to be evaluated by the FDA. It placed them in the highest risk category, based on health risks including brain damage. By law, devices in that category were to be removed from the market if investigation didn’t establish their safety. They remain in that category, but the FDA has not acted, as the law would seem to require. The regulatory agencies are now acting flagrantly for the benefit of the big economic interests, and against the interests of the consumers. It would be nice if we could return to the rule of law.