Encephal-in-Silence: Dr. Oliver Sacks

A forgotten epidemic turned people into “living statues,” and one composite patient—Leonard—shows what it means to be awake, alive, and trapped. We trace encephalitis lethargica from its eerie rise to its unexplained disappearance, then step into the late 1960s, when Dr. Oliver Sacks reached for a radical idea: use L‑Dopa, the new Parkinson’s drug, to unlock minds stilled for decades. Leonard opens his eyes, speaks, walks, and even plays piano. Joy floods the ward. Then the pendulum swings—tics, dyskinesias, manic euphoria, crushing lows. The line between treatment and transformation blurs.

We talk through the science and the soul. What does dopamine actually give back, and what does it take when it floods the system? How do you return to a world that raced thirty years ahead without you? Consent gets complicated when communication is reduced to microscript, and “miracle cure” becomes a moving target. Sacks’ enduring lesson isn’t just pharmacology; it’s presence. He listened for hours, asked better questions, and stood by patients before, during, and after the trial. Even when the awakenings faded, dignity stayed.

If you love thoughtful medical history, neurological mysteries, and the ethics behind “miracle drugs,” this story will stick with you. We mix heart, humor, and clear language to unpack sleepy sickness, L‑Dopa side effects, Parkinsonian symptoms, patient autonomy, and the weight of hope. Come for the science; stay for the humanity—and decide for yourself: would you choose a brief return to life, risk and all?

Enjoy the episode? Follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review so more curious minds can find the show. Your take: miracle, mistake, or something in between?

Sacks, Oliver. Awakenings. New York: Dutton, 1973. (Case history of Leonard L. and other post-encephalitic patients)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govthenewatlantis.comnewyorker.com

Charlotte Allan. “Awakenings.” BMJ, vol. 334, no. 7604, 2007, p. 1169. (Medical classic review of Sacks’s book)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Jacobs, Alan. “A Humanism of the Abyss.” The New Atlantis, Fall 2025. (Discussion of Sacks’s approach and Leonard’s communications)thenewatlantis.comthenewatlantis.com

Aviv, Rachel. “Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?” The New Yorker, 15 Dec 2025. (Biographical article with quotes from Awakenings and Sacks’s notes)newyorker.comnewyorker.com

LeWitt, Peter. “A Half-century of Awakenings.” Neurology, vol. 101, no. 13, 2023, pp. 582–584. (50-year retrospective on Sacks’s Awakenings)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Oliver Sacks Foundation – Awakenings book page (accessed 2026). (Background on the book and Sacks’s reflections)oliversacks.comoliversacks.com

Awakenings (dir. Penny Marshall, 1990) – Film based on Sacks’s book (for contextual understanding of Leonard’s portrayal)en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org

Transcript

Welcome And Drinks On Deck

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

How's it going today?

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

I'm good. We're the History Buffoons.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

And I'm Kate.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And I am Bradley. Welcome. To another History of Buffoons. I don't know why I said that. We just went over that. My bad. How are you today?

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Pretty good. It's been a really, really, really busy week.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

You had said that, yeah. You had a lot going on with work and everything.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

So I picked up an additional class to teach and I'm starting a new class next week.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Which will be good.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Yeah, I'm excited. Um, I get to work with a lot of cool people.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Excuse me, which is great. Yeah. Makes it a lot better.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

How was your week? It was it was okay. Um, nothing super ridiculous, I guess. I there's this meat store I told you about. Uh, so we went there last week and then Xavier and I went there again yesterday. So he was excited.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Good.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

He's been super uh about dad lately, which I love. So that's been great. Uh Vespers hit or miss. Because you know, she's Vesper. Yeah. But overall, no, it was it was an alright week, I guess. Okay. So it was snowy this morning, and that made work really difficult. Yeah.

The Leonard Disclaimer

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah. Well, I have a disclaimer um to start our story off before we get into what we're drinking.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I love disclaimers.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Um, it's an important disclaimer, so as not to get confused with real life. Okay. This is um a story that centers on a guy named Leonard.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Leonard.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

And he is a patient featured in Dr. Oliver Sachs's book, Awakenings.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Leonard is not a single historical figure person. He is a composite character.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Um, and he is a narrative combination of many real life people that um Dr. Sachs treated um during um a certain period of time in the late 1960s.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

So when I'm going to talk about every medical event, every psychological reaction and uh dilemma described in Leonard's story is based on documented real life cases.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Um, Dr. Sachs used composites like Leonard to protect um patient confidentiality.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Which makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Yes, exactly. So some of the names and narrative details might be reconstructed, um, but Leonard's um story reflects like the scientific and human aspect of Dr. Sachs's story.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Awakenings, wasn't that a movie?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

It was with Robin Williams and uh Robert Downey Jr.

unknown 3:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

I don't know if I've ever actually seen it.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I have not. I did not watch it um while I researched this because I want I actually wanted to know if you would want to watch it at some point.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yeah, I'd definitely check that out because I remember I remember it, I know of it, but I'm almost a hundred percent sure I've never seen it.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

So Dr. Sex wrote the book and then he is portrayed as a different type of a different doctor in the movie. Like the names aren't the same.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Well, and that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

So that was my disclaimer.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

It's based off the book. Yes. I always think it's funny, real quick. Sorry, that people like, oh, the book was better. Well, yeah. I know there's more information. Yeah, you can make your own thing, and it's always based off the book, yeah. Or just like even off of that, this was based off of true events. Well, that didn't really happen. Yeah, because it's based off of it, and then they added shit for fucking Hollywood Flair, right? Idiots.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Anyways, what are we drinking today?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

So I may have I bought a six-pack of this for the podcast. I may have drank five of them prior to recording. So I have a conglomerate. Not tonight, by the way. Not tonight, no. This is my uh first beer today. I lie, but anyways, um, so I have a new Sierra Nevada, it's Springfest IPA, and I will already tell you, I know it's delicious. Yeah, but I do have backups. I got you uh I know of I've known of this beer for a long time. You've never had it. Um, I also have some myself, but I'll let you show it because it's for you.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah, so this is um from Britain. It is Bodington's Boddington's Boddingtons, thank you. Pub Ale. It is a pint and it has bees on it. I just noticed it's got bees on it. Yeah, I love bees on you.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

You like bees. It also has the like the widget thing in there or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

A widget thing?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Do you hear that? Oh, yeah. So because of how it's it's like, yeah, it's it's it's a little bit different. I'll just say that.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Oh, it says for best reserve results, serve cool but not ice cold. I carefully open can, pour contents into a glass, wait and watch the head settle on a perfect glass of Boddington's pub ale.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Oh no, should we get some pints?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

We should get some pints.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Okay. Hold please, we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

And we're back.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Hello, we got our pint glasses, so the beer can be properly poured. I think I'm just gonna pour mine with you so I can uh get it to settle properly.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

So tell me what the widget thingy So it helps with the pouring.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

So there's actually like something in the can that helps with the aeration and all that stuff, whatever. I'm making shit up as I go.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Oh, so that sounds legit.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

I know. It's it might be somewhat right, but I don't know if that's totally right.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

But this is difficult work over a computer.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Well, don't spill it.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

I'm here for moral support. That is a nice pour. So do you hear that there's actually something in the can?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Um, so Guinness. Yeah, Guinness has that too.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, I did I yeah, I knew that one.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, so it's just it's the same concept, really. So helps with the pour and the whatnot. Let's cut a can open later.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

It doesn't come out with the pour, it's too big for the hole. That makes sense. Yeah. Let's cut a can open later.

Life Trapped Inside A Still Body

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I'm down. Because I've never actually seen one in person. I thought they were mythical creatures.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

For science.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

For science. Beer drinking for science. Okay, so I'm gonna crack my Sierra Nevada and then I'll go to the bottom tens. Cheers! Cheers! I'm curious to what you think about this.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

So yeah, what kind of beer is it?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

I didn't even It's a pub ale.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

A pub ale. Okay, that's an actual kind. Okay. It's good. With a side of Honestly, I feel like it needs to be colder.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

See, so is that weird? No. I like my beer ice cold.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And I mean, this has been in your fridge. I gave it to you last week for this episode.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

And um it's funny, so when I went to Germany for Oktoberfest, and everyone's like I already know what's coming out of your mouth, and I'm shivering. What?

SPEAKER_02 7:36

They don't serve it cold, do they?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

No, no, everyone told me it's not as cold, it's not as cold. I had plenty of cold beer there. Oh, did you? I did.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

It might not be like fucking ice cold like we drink it here mostly, at least in Wisconsin. Yeah, but it was cold.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

So I had uh Franziskoner on tap at the Zuntigite. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

That was German.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

I know. You know, talking about Germany. Yeah, but it's funny. I had it in Germany at an Italian restaurant that was attached to our hotel. And they had this the best, and I'm you know, I I've told you I'm not a huge spaghetti noodle fan. They had the best spaghetti bul Bologniers, how is that how you say it?

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Bolognese, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Um, and the chick who worked there, her name was Melisa, was very nice to look at.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So I'm so happy for you.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, I was too. I say that with me, my buddy who we went with, he was all about her. Because I think he was he was single at the time, so it was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

But anyways, I'm very happy for you.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Okay, fair enough.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Okay, so let's get into Leonard and Dr. Oliver Sachs.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Okay, so Leonard was um a bright man growing up in the 1920s until an epidemic changed his life.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

1920s, okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

In his late teens, Leonard contracted encephalitis lethargica, okay, which is the sleeping sickness.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Oh no. Yes, just makes you want to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Oh, I will get into it. And this was actually kind of a worldwide outbreak during uh the first world war.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

So encephalitis lethargica swept across Europe and North America between 1916 and the late 1920s. Wow. It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't quick, it was slow and really creepy.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Patients slipped into extreme lethargy, sometimes sleeping 20 hours a day, drifting in and out of consciousness. Oh Lord. Others developed delirium, um, eye paralysis, personality changes, and sudden violent movements.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

The cause was never definitively identified.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

What made encephalitis lethargica horrifying was what came after.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

After you had it?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yes. So many survivors appeared to recover.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Only to develop severe neurological problems years later, sometimes even decades later.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Oh wow. So it was like a slow roll.

Sacks Sees The Mind Inside

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah. So they would have the initial onset get better, and then years and years later, they would have post-encephalit encephalitis syndrome.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

So what did that entail? So um what they would include, what they would get would be like Parkinson's like rigidity, tremors, frozen facial expressions, and a really creepy in inability to move.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Oh, that would suck.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

These patients were mentally present, but physically they looked locked in place.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Sometimes for decades.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Oh, so they were just like a statue. That's fucking weird.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

People were stuck between sleeping and awake, motion and motion and paralysis, time and oblivion. Um, they're like I said, it was just it as soon as encephalitis lethargica showed up, it was gone. There was no explanation, no weird ending, no Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

So, do you remember when you were a kid when when k other kids would tell you stories or like made up shit? But they say, No, I swear to God, that's real. What you just said reminded me of one that I uh remember hearing a long time ago. There was a supposedly this guy who took acid and tripped so hard that he like had a some type of mental break or whatever, and he thought he was a glass of orange juice and couldn't move because otherwise he would spill.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

So that just reminded me of that for some reason.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, I don't know if it's true, but I'd like to believe it is. Yeah. Because that would be fucking weird.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

So, like many survivors, Leonard went through this encephalitis lethargica.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Okay.

Enter L‑Dopa And A Bold Trial

SPEAKER_02 12:08

And then recovered only to develop post-encephalitic syndrome years later. How many years later did he so now we're talking into his 30s?

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Um, Leonard he was 16 at the time, you said, right? Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Um, he was he was he grew up in the 1920s when the outbreak was was full force. Oh, okay. It happened in the 19 in 1916.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Oh, maybe that's where I was in 2020. Yeah, that's right. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Um, so by his 30s, Leonard was locked inside a near motionless body. He was conscious and aware, but not fully awake.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

So could they talk or no?

SPEAKER_02 12:51

They were just they were speechless, motionless, they lacked energy or even motivation to do anything.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Well, because they couldn't.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Doctors described him and others like him as transfixed, motionless in a sort of trance for decades, giving up as like hopeless cases. And they were just in the hospital for decades.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Like on a bed?

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

So how did they get food?

SPEAKER_02 13:18

I'm assuming they had like you should never assume. Probably like tubes, feeding tubes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Think so? Probably like IVs and all that for liquids and stuff. Because like your body would just deteriorate. Wouldn't his muscles just fucking completely break down? Yeah. Oh, that would suck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

So during these decades, Leonard could register events around him with his eyes. Um, he had Parkinson like uh symptoms, the tremors, muscle rigidity, and the inability to initiate movement. Um, the the epidemic's after effects resembled Parkinson's disease so much that neurologists suspected a link in the brain's dopamine system.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

By the 1950s, Leonard had deteriorated to a state of uh extreme echinesia. He could not voluntarily speak or move and was as passive as a zombie.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Wow. Have they met a zombie to be able to compare that to?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

They've heard they've read stories.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

I believe those are science fiction.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

The one tiny outlet um of will that he retained was the ability to write in micro script on a small slate board, spelling out one letter at a time.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

But what is micro script?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Like he very little movements.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Okay. So literally that's what it sounds like. Yeah. How did they read it if it was so small?

SPEAKER_02 14:49

So Benny didn't take the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Okay.

Leonard Wakes And Walks

SPEAKER_02 14:53

So over 15 years before 1969, Leonard was essentially mute and immobile, communicated only by slowly tracing out words on that slate. Each letter would take nearly a minute. Wow. So most hospital staff would lose patience and limit their questions to simple yes or no.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Isn't it funny how they would lose patients? I mean, they're supposed to take care of their patients, not lose them.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Just saying, uh cat here.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Well, it we are in your house, it's everywhere. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

There it is.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

There it is.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Dr. Oliver Sacks, however, intersex treated Leonard as fully present. Well, good for him.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Way to be like progressive in this shitty world where everyone's just like, fuck you, dude, just I'm moving on.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

So my initial um research was all about Dr. Oliver Sacks. And it was so there's so much information, I was overloaded for a good several days.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

And rewrote the story and rewrote the story and rewrote the story until I found Leonard.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Leonard.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah. So okay, so um Sacks would sit for hours if necessary, gently asking open-ended questions.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Like, how are you? Or what is it like being the way you are, waiting patiently for Leonard to answer.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

And would he?

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Yes, he would.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

So how so he just he had little movement in his hand then? That's all it was. Yeah. Why do you this is I didn't say this is in your research or anything, you personally. Why was the hand so mobile but everything else was not?

SPEAKER_03 16:42

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Doesn't that seem weird?

SPEAKER_03 16:45

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

We should watch the movie.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Great insight.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Yeah, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

All right.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

But this patience between doctor and patient formed a really deep bond between the two. Um, but through these slow, effortful conversations, Leonard revealed the rich inner life trapped within his frozen body.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

When Dr. Sachs first asked him what it felt like to be in this state, Leonard spelled out a single word. Caged.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Sure. I mean, yeah, you're you're trapped in a meat cage.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

He then added deprived and then eluded a cat pacing in endless mute circles inside of a cage, like what you see at the zoo, which I hate. Just back and forth and back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

That's just what they do though.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

I know, but there's no stimulation.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah, there is.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Sometimes they have a ball.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

You make it seem like they're in like a 1930s fucking zoo. I think of like the beginning of the Peter Jackson King Kong where they show a zoo where they're all it's terrible. Yeah. That's not how they are these days. They're they're actually don't get me wrong, there's shit that happens, but they're well taken care of.

Joy, Shock, And Lost Time

SPEAKER_02 18:04

So Leonard said um, the absence is a terrible isolation and coldness and shrinking more than you can imagine. A bottomless darkness and unreality. So despite his blankness, Leonard was fully aware of his condition and its despair. Um, he said, I am still alive inside, um, alive, but like entombed in a body that can't obey.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah. Now, again, Leonard is a conglomeration of multiple people.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Yes. So um written in a story type format.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Right, just to kind of get it out, whatever. So we'll just talk about Leonard because that's what we're talking about. But so like he could see, though. Is that one thing you said? I think so. Could see.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

I think there is some people with eye paralysis.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Okay, you did mention that. That's right. Okay. Cause could you oh my god, excuse me. Could you imagine not being able to see? Even if you're just laying there, I'd rather stare at a ceiling than nothing than black.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Because like if I ever had to lose a sense, the one I never want to lose is my sight.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

I wear glasses, but you know, I could never lose my sight because it'd be like that would be awful. So I feel I I feel I'm sure I know they make it work and everything. Anyone who's blind, good for them. But man, I could not do that. That would that would break me in half. So I couldn't imagine. Anyways. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

So Dr. Sachs confirmed a long suspicion that he had through Leonard and dozens of other patients at the Bronx Hospital, which is where they were. They appeared hopeless, but their minds were very much intact and yearning to reconnect with the world.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

So Sachs later wrote that other physicians had dismissed such post encephaletic. Patients as living statues beyond help, but he sensed that they still had life in them.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Well, I mean, yeah, they were still alive. Yes. So.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Leonard's own words demonstrated the real and full presence of the patient is still there behind the mask, and this understanding set the stage for an experiment that would test whether that caged life could be freed.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

By the late 1960s, researchers had discovered that Parkinsonian disorders involve a deficit of dopamine in the brain, and a new drug, Levo Levodopa, which we call L-Dopa.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

L Dopa.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Mm-hmm. Could restore this neurotransmitter.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Sounds like a drug from Mexico.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

La DOPA.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Hey, you got any of that? L'OPA, man? I'm looking for some.

Side Effects And Swinging Extremes

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Earlier trialers in typical Parkinson's disease showed promising reversals of rigidity and tremors when high doses were given gradually.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Okay. So Dr. Sachs wondered could L DOPA awaken these post-encephalytic patients who had been frozen for decades.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Okay. He hesitated and thought about it for about two years before he did anything.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

It took him a while. Which I mean, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Yeah, you don't jump into something like that lately.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Well, okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

What?

SPEAKER_00 21:28

A lot of people do.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

You know. I'll just stop there though.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Lower doses were useless, but higher doses might have unpredictable effects.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

So how did they know lower doses were useless? And did they try it?

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Because with the Parkinson's, they needed high doses. And they linked the two with the dopamine in the brain.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Okay. In the summer of 1969, Sachs obtained permission to administer Lodopa to a small group of these patients at the Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx. Oh. Leonard, then in his late 40s, was chosen as one of the first candidates.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

The drug was introduced slowly and carefully with Sachs monitoring any sign of change.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

How did they administer it? Was it like in an IV or do you not know?

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I do that. For the first time in decades, something other than the illness was acting on Leonard's brain. Within days, like within a week, like less than a week, of reaching a therapeutic Ladopa dose, Leonard's transformation became dramatic.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Sachs saw this man who had been speechless and incapable of voluntary motion suddenly opened his eyes to the world and came fully alive.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

How so?

SPEAKER_02 22:56

It was as if a sleeping soul had re-entered his body. Leonard woke up with his old personality intact, astonishing everyone around him. That would kind of be freaky. A little bit. Nurses who had ever known him as a silent statue now heard him speak in a clear voice.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Oh, so he could speak right away?

SPEAKER_02 23:16

He could stand up and walk fairly steadily down the halls, at first tentatively, and then with more growing confidence.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Okay, so how how could he do that when he was laying in bed for eight 18 plus years or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 23:30

I mean, maybe they had some kind of program to like help move his body, because I mean loved ones do that with people in comas, and I mean I get that, but like they didn't even want to wait a minute for him to write a letter, let alone move his legs and whatever.

Ethics Of Awakening And Consent

SPEAKER_00 23:45

But even with that movement, that much time, I can't imagine you're building muscle mass. I mean, your muscles are gonna atrophy. Yeah. And how the fuck, like, I'm a new man. Yeah. It's like I'm a real boy. I'm a real girl. Shout out.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

So decades old skills and habits returned almost overnight.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

One morning, Leonard strolled over to the piano that was in the ward and began to began to play familiar tunes. Other patients in the La Dopa trial experienced similar awakenings. Immobile bodies became animated. Faces that had been masked like broke into smiles, and the ward was excited conversation and laughter for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

So did they have them like in a separate wing type thing or their own little ward?

SPEAKER_02 24:36

I I didn't look into where in the hospital they were.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Were they peppered in with the other patients?

SPEAKER_02 24:42

I'm sure they're all together.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

United.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

United in silence together. United in silence.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

In encephalitis, right? That's the right word.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Encephalosilus. Encephalitis.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Encephalence? That's the one. That's the title.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

As one observer put it, it was much like witnessing magic. Even sex, a neurologist trained in objective science, described the drug's effect as the uncanny lifting of blockage and the return of ease of grace, of joy, and delight and resolve.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

And that's from the El Dopa. Yes. Okay. So with that being so this happened, you said around World War One. Right?

SPEAKER_02 25:32

The original epidemic.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Someone didn't turn their phone off.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Who calls me this late? Potential spam.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Fuck you, Spam. And your potentialness.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

It's almost eight o'clock.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Like they don't stop calling me. Potential spam does not have a fucking clock. So they're working hard around it. Anyways, thanks, Potential Spam, for fucking cutting me off and losing what I was gonna say. Um, what was I gonna say? I don't know. Words. Fuck, what the hell was I just talking about? Fuck you, spam.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

But I don't even like spam. Okay. So for Leonard, the emotional impact of awakening was as profound as the medical change. Sachs later wrote that Leonard felt like you know, yes, Bradley.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

I remember what I did.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

That's okay. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

So I'm gonna drink. This the original thing happened around World War One. This is something like could this still happen today? I guess.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

I don't think encephalitis is around.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

No, so they killed it?

SPEAKER_02 26:38

No, it just disappeared.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

It went to the moon?

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Something.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Mars. Aliens came and took it.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

It's like, oh, we've been looking for it.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

It just showed up and then it disappeared. There was no, there was no like where it came from, no idea. No idea where it went.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

I bet it was aliens. Extraterrestrial, hands down.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah.

Regression And Lasting Lessons

SPEAKER_00 26:58

I mean, that's my favorite conspiracy theory, so I mean, okay, so it just disappeared.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Could you imagine if it just came back?

SPEAKER_02 27:10

So I guess not. I just looked it up because you know, I was guessing.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah, like that's what you do.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

So encephalitis is inflammation of the brain.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Usually caused by viral infections.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Okay, it's not like back in World War I, they didn't know what it was.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Right. Um so they could treat it now if if it happened, basically.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Okay. So let me talk about okay. So that was encephalitis. Encephalitis encephalitis lethargica.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yeah. Um was something different.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

It has not returned.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Okay. Yeah. That's so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

There was no clear cause.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

And no reason why it left.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Um, some research researchers think it may have been triggered by an immune response late related to the 1918 flu, but that's all speculative.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Is that the Spanish flu? Is that what they call that one?

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Is that that? Yeah. That's I mean, I know it was around then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

So yeah. So encephalitis is around encephalitis lethargica is not.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Gotcha. So there is a significant difference between the two. Okay, I see. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Okay. So Saks later wrote that Leonard felt like a man released from entombment. Yeah. Reborn into the world. Um, he sax asked, What are your feelings? And Leonard's reply verbally, I have been hungry and yearning all my life, and now I am full. I feel saved. I feel like a man in love. I have broken through the barriers which cut me off from love.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

How much back taxes do you think he has to pay at this point?

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Good question.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Because he has not been paying his taxes. So, and and again, I know this is a conglomerate of pers of people.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

So I don't know if you came across this when you're looking up any of this stuff, but like any of these people that they have loved ones that just abandoned them basically and said, Well, he's in the hospital, or she's in the hospital, whatever. Like, how do you think that went?

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Yeah.

Sacks’ Legacy And Closing

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Because, like, I mean, there's some really good people in this world, and they'd be like, I'm with you, and they would go and help move their muscles and stuff, whatever, or read them a book, or whatever the fuck it would be, like people doing comas and stuff, whatever. But like that would be really tough.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

That would be really tough.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Because it's like, I can't interact with you. I mean, I'm a big interaction person, I interact with people all every day with my job and everything. So um I don't know. I just I can imagine if there were people with significant others, children, whatever it was, family members, that they just kind of faded away. Like, well, it's a lost cause, let's move on with our life, which would be really shitty to wake up to if you awoke, obviously. Because I can't imagine every single one worked, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:15

Um, from what I understand, most of them did. Oh, wow. But there is a caveat. Oh. Okay, which I will get into. So Leonard spoke with vitality. Decades of pent-up thoughts and emotions came rushing out. He wanted to read every newspaper, every book he had missed. He wanted to listen to music and talk to everyone. Um, Sack said he his predominant feelings at this time were feelings of freedom, openness, and exchange with the world.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

So Leonard's entire demeanor was full of happiness. Um, he said happiness that he had not felt for 30 years. 30 years. That's insane. Yeah. And his life was given back to him within a week of this trial.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Family members who visited Leonard were astonished, were overjoyed. I don't know if they were visiting him up until the awakening or after the awakening. Or if there's like, hey, uh he's up awake now. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

He's up. He's using the the loo right now, but you know. Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

I had to speak in British because we got so this man they remembered that they remember this man from before the the um ill illness. Yeah. Witty, articulate, and loving.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

And it seemed like he came right back as such.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Well, I mean, you would think he wouldn't lose the person he was, right? Because he he really didn't have a lot of influences to change him.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

You had the doctors and the the nurses and everything that interacted with you, but at that point you have nothing really to alter your personality because you're just stuck inside.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

So I mean, you would think he would be the same person. At least I would think he'd be the same person, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

So after the initial euphoria settled, he had to face more of a psychological shock of the lost time.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Well, yeah. I mean, he lost how so how long again? He was in there for 30 years. And how old is he at this point, roughly?

SPEAKER_02 32:23

I know I think he was in his 40s. Okay. So he so um the technology, the culture, the city around him were all unfamiliar because he went in in the like 20s or 30s.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

It's kind of like when Captain America woke up at the end of the first Avenger, Captain America, first Avenger movie. He's like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 32:43

He realized he was no longer the young man who fell ill, but a middle-aged patient who has spent the better of his life in a hospital.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

So did they have to shave him all the time?

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

How how did they how did they know he didn't want a beard?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Oh my god, Bradley, the questions.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Wouldn't it be great though? It's like, let's see how long I can get. Oh, Jesus. Right? Wouldn't that be awesome? It's like fucking Gandalf over here.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Okay, so Dr. Sex and the staff gently helped Leonard begin orient um orienting to modern life in 1969. Yeah, showing him contemporary newspapers, television, and explaining events that had transpired.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

That's yeah, is that the year we went to the moon? 69, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Was it 68?

SPEAKER_00 33:33

I think it was 69.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Um, could you imagine waking up after like 30 years and like, holy fuck, we're going to the moon. Yeah. When did that happen? It's like, how do we get there?

SPEAKER_02 33:44

So Leonard met younger patients and nurses and was amazed and sometimes dismayed by how much he had missed. Um the adjustment raised a question: how do you pick up the threads of a life delayed for decades? So Leonard himself felt as if he was still a 20-year-old that he had been when the illness first struck.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

So, besides obviously his physical form being aged, I mean you're gonna have some limitations because of that. But your mind is set back then for more or less, even though he was conscious, I guess, but like stuck in his head.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

That's a good thing though. I mean, your body might not move as nimble as it used to. I know fuck mine doesn't. I'm 46, so but uh I would imagine that's gotta help a little bit with that young youth mindset, I guess I guess is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

Yeah. So so one of his fellow awakened patients, Rose, um, could not bridge the gap at all. Having fallen ill in 1926 at age 21, she awoke in 1969 to find her world of 2019 had vanished and remained permanently in the past. The shock was so great that Rose stopped responding to L Dopa almost as if she chose to retreat rather than face an incomprehensible new reality.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

That's so wild that you would choose that over trying to overcome that. I mean, I understand what you're saying, but fuck that, man.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

So Leonard coped better than Rose, but the awakening brought as much sorrow as joy. France's own age had grown old or died, and the world had moved on without him. Yeah, the emotional term oil underscored an ethical dilemma for sex, as it was entirely merciful to reverse time for such patients, or were they being burdened with grief and confusion along this renewed life?

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

I literally put it on silent. I swear to God, I put it on silent. It's literally on silent.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Alarms transcend silence. It sure did. Yeah. No, I know they do. It's time to take pills. Because if you if you had your phone on silent and set an alarm, you would be fucked in the morning. So yeah. Yeah.

unknown 36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Anywho.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

So, my apologies.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

It's all right. So, Sachs approached this personal implication of the experiment with a lot of sensitivity. He understood that treating these patients required far more than giving them just a new drug.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

It required psychological support, patients, and reorienting them gently into a changed world. So at the same time, Leonard embraced his second chance with determination. In the weeks following his awakening, he kept a notebook, effectively an autobiography, to record memories of his childhood and the feet feelings coursing through him. He spent time outdoors in the hospital garden, marveling at simple pleasures like sunshine and fresh air on his skin.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Grass. I mean, shit. That would be amazing.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Um, Leonard also struggled with regaining autonomy after so long as a dependent patient.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

As he grew uh stronger, he chafed against the hospital's rules and the realization that he was still viewed as an invalid. Um, in Sach's account, Leonard began to desire the freedom to come and go as he pleases, even agitating to be discharged despite still needing medical supervision.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

So this created friction with the hospital administration, further questioning more ethical questions. Um, how much freedom should someone in Leonard's situation have, and what kind of life could he leave outside the ward given his unique condition?

SPEAKER_00 37:44

So who who paid for them to stay there this whole time? I'm sure they didn't have insurance. Isn't that wild to think about?

SPEAKER_03 37:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

I am not a fan of the medical world.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

The government?

SPEAKER_00 37:58

That too. Oh, wait, yeah. Maybe they did.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Sachs had to balance Leonard's newfound willpower and desires with practical concerns for his safety and his health.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

The personal implications of Leonard's awakening were complex. It was not just a medical triumph, but the revival of a full human being with hopes, rights, and emotions.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

About a month and a half after his awakening, Leonard's rebirth continued to be celebratory, but then roughly six weeks into treatment, the La Dopa effects started fleeting.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Oh no. So it had like a shelf life kind of, if you will. So did he start like it's like, oh doc, I can't move my left arm. Doc, I can't move both my arms.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Almost. So Leonard, who had been taking steadily increasing doses, suddenly began to develop a drastic sensitivity to the drug. And early August of 1969, he started showing some new symptoms. Slight facial ticks at first, which progressed to jerky movements of his arms and legs that he could not control.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Like the Parkinson's thing you were talking about. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Each day Leonard oscillated between periods of normal movement and bouts of irresistible restlessness. He would pace the corridors for hours, unable to sit still, then swing to the extreme opposite where he would freeze up rigid and blocked again. Sex was alarmed to see that Leonard once his once smooth recovery had become such a roller coaster of involuntary behaviors.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Even when they tried lowering the dose, Leonard's system seemed to overreact to any LA dopa now. So as one account describes, six weeks later he developed exaggerated sensitivity to the drug, and even with tiny doses, doses had uncontrollable side effects.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

So basically, he was becoming almost immune to the L DOPA.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

He was now being Overstimulated in his brain.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Oh, I see. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

With the dopamine um reactions.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

So Sachs and his team documented a range of side effects emerging, not just in Leonard, but across the all the awakened patients.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Some of the adverse effects were physical. Patients developed jerking jerking ticks and even violent flinging motions of the limbs.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Episodes of eyes rolling upward into their head or fixed in places and other neurological disturbances. Oh boy. Other side effects were behavioral and psychological. Patients experienced surges of intense, intense emotion and impulse that they struggled to control. Sure. Some manifested as manic euphoria.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Manic euphoria, okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

One deliriously happy patient exclaimed to Dr. Sachs, My blood is champagne.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

What? So they just wanted to drink it, or? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

I mean that's he was just intoxicated on life.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

It was bubbly.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

In Leonard's case, the pendulum swung between elation and torment.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

He began to feel overwhelmingly driven by desires that he had that he had been long suppressed.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Like what?

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Um so his he it was basically his sexual appetite. Oh it spiked uncontrollably.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

He just wanted to go bang, bang, bang.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

According to Saks, Leonard became so sexually fixated and disinhibited that he injured his own genitals in frantic frustration.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

So he was going to pound town with his right hand and oh my god, I yanked too hard. Yeah. That sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Yeah. Um, his emotions swung wildly, if not euphoric, he was irritable or even despairing. On one occasion, overcome by the sense that he was losing control of himself. Leonard attempted to smother himself with a pillow.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

Oh Jesus. So he thought he was going back and he's like, I don't want to go back there. Yeah. So he's like, things are getting out of control. I can't control them, obviously. So the better alternative is to end it for myself because I can't go back there. Yeah. Wow. Oh wow. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

So Sacks found himself um with a heartbreaking reversal of what was happening. The very freedom that Leonard had had been celebrating was becoming unbearable for him.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

It was as though the floodgates of 30 years of pent-up energy had opened too wide.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Sachs tried adjusting Leonard's dosage up and down, searching for a stable middle ground. The ward that had been full of joyful activity became a place of anxious vigilance as nurses watched for sudden outbursts or collapse.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Even more ethical questions loomed. How much aliveness was too much? Where is the line between treating disease and fundamentally alter fundamentally altering someone's personality? Sachs wrote that awakenings became a kind of drama about dosage.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

An examination of how much aliveness is tolerable and at what cost.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

His patients had to endure being human guinea pigs in uncharted territory. And Leonard's case, despite everyone's best effort, it became clear that his his high hopes could not be sustained.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

No.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

Over the late summer of 1969, Leonard's condition oscillated unpredictably. Some days he appeared nearly normal. On others, he was wrecked by tremors or lost in manic ramblings. His handwriting, once neat on the slate, though small, uh, deteriorated into scrolls during agitated phases. Um, the precious gains like the fluid speech and the easy movement movements were starting to slip away bit by bit. The decline was devastating for Leonard and those who cared for him. And of course, Leonard was aware of what was happening.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Well, yeah, I mean, kind of had to be, I'm sure, but fucking hell.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

In rare moments of lucidity, he expressed fear and grief that the darkness was closing in again. He remained intensely grateful for the time that he had been awake. Well, sure. He said, I've had a taste for life and it was beautiful. Yeah. Even as his hands began to shake and his voice grew halting, Leonard tried to reassure Sax that he did not regret the awakening, however brief. Wow. So by the end of 1969, despite every adjustment and care, Leonard's doctors were forced to make a painful decision.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

They put him down.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Not quite. Ladopa had to be discontinued.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Oh boy. You say discontinued, but does they stopped administering it to him? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

The side effects and psychological turmoil turmoil were simply too injurious. As the drug tapered off, Leonard's wild swings and involuntary movements gradually subsided. Sure. But along with along with them went the vigor that El Doba had given him. Leonard regressed towards his former catatonic stage each day a little more.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

And a little less responsive.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

One morning, Leonard could no longer rise from his wheelchair. Another day he could no longer hold a pen. Oh, geez. Finally, one day he fell quietly silent once more. The living statue returned with Leonard trapped internally, just as before. Dr. Sachs reported these developments with profound sadness. All the awakened patients who had leapt back to life eventually returned to a catatonic state despite increasing doses of Lidopa.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

So it was just basically it was a uh what's the word I'm looking for? Temporary thing.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

It was temporary.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

And it it was enough to get him to wake up, but it was a short-lived solution, I guess we'll call it. That's too bad.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

Leonard was the first to be awakened, and he was also the first to decline.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Well, I mean, it makes sense because it sounded like there was a shelf life of the awakening, basically, is what that is.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

For Leonard's family and hospital staff, staff, the outcome was disheartening. Right. They had witnessed a beloved man essentially resurrect only to lose him again.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

In the wake of Leonard's re-catonia, ketatonia.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Ketatonia.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Dr. Sachs and the team made every effort to keep him comfortable and to maintain human contact. They discovered that although Leonard could no longer initiate speech or movement, he still remained reachable.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

How so?

SPEAKER_02 46:47

His mind was still there.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Well, yeah, but how is he reachable?

SPEAKER_02 46:50

They could still talk to him. And he could still I'm sure he could still write. I didn't actually look into the writing part. But he was still there, he just couldn't move. So Leonard did manage a few written words um suggesting that some small part of El Dopa effect lingered.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Um, but more often though, he remained still. Um, and Leonard lived out the remainder of his years in the Bronx hospital, cared for by staff who knew the soul hidden within him. He passed away in 1981, never having sustained another full awakening.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

So did they try again?

SPEAKER_02 47:35

I'm pretty sure they didn't.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

I mean, wouldn't you think like, and again, I am not a doctor of any stretch, nor do I want to be. So, late 60s, they do this. He goes back. Let him I don't I mean, I don't know how much time you let it pass, let that go through. You could have tried to awaken him again, right? If that was me, if Leonard was a single person, not a conglomerate, and that was me. Go. Yeah. Try it again, dude. Even if it was for another month and a half. Yeah. You know, just put a cage on my hand so I don't go all whatever.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

So the immediate immediate medical verdict on L Dopa experiment was mixed.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

It was not the enduring cure that Sax was hoping to give his patients, but there was still gifts left in its wake.

SPEAKER_04 48:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Leonard's brief moments of freedom had allowed him to reconnect with his family. His mother and his niece visited often during his lucid period.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

And to say the things that had long been unsaid.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Well, see, that could you imagine, like for a person being trapped in their body, how even if how brief that was that he was awake, being able to do that, love your mom, you know, yeah, whatever it might have been. Yeah. Just to get that out, be like, sorry I wasn't there. It's like it's not his fault, obviously. But you know what I mean? I could I can only imagine what that would have meant to somebody like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

So um, Leonard's brief um, oh, excuse me. Um, he had experienced love and laughter once again. And many of the other patients too retained some faint glimmer of responsiveness or simply the knowledge in whatever corner of their mind it recited that they truly lived again, however, brief. Dr. Sachs noted, although the physical awakenings were temporary, a deeper awakening occurred in the hospital community. Oh the doctors and nurses, having seen the people behind those long, unchanging faces, could never go back to regarding them as hopeless cases. Well, see, that's good at least. They continued to treat the post-encephalatic um patients with greater empathy and dignity, knowing now that inside every frozen body was a human being longing for connection.

SPEAKER_01 49:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

In a sense, Leonard's personhood had been vindicated. He was and had has always been fully human, not a zombie. And he proved it, prove it, he proved it when given the chance.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:08

So Leonard's story, as chronicled by Dr. Oliver Sachs in his book Awakenings, is inspiring but yet sobering. Ethically, it raised difficult questions that reverberate even today.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:21

Sachs himself was initially astonished and shocked by how some of his medical colleagues reacted to these cases. When he published a preliminary port report in 1970 detailing their miraculous but short-lived recoveries in 60 patients, many doctors refused to believe it or argued such a disillusioning story should never have been told.

SPEAKER_01 50:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Perhaps it was more comforting to cling to the idea that a miracle drug cure of a miracle drug cure than to face a messy reality that Leonard's awakening presented, that neurological and personhood are complex and simple fixes can fail.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Sachs, however, felt that not telling the full story would be a greater ethical lapse.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

He championed a different, excuse me, a deeper understanding of these patients, one that went beyond viewing the later complications as mere side effects. Right. He said, quote, these could not be seen as side effects, but it had to be seen as integral parts of an evolving whole, urging fellow physicians to reckon with the whole human situation, not the clinical data.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

One ethical implication Leonard's case highlights is the question of consent and hope.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Leonard and the others could not have fully understood what this experimental treatment held in store, even Sachs didn't.

SPEAKER_00 51:47

Well, no, it was experimental.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

It was experimental. And when Leonard was entombed in his illness, he could only consent in the most limited way.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

Okay, so I know we're in a we're in a world of everything's gotta be consent. Like, may I shake your head?

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

And I okay, and I respect people's personal things, whatever. You can't communicate with these people. Yes, he could write a little bit, whatever. If I was in that position, I don't give a fuck. Try it. Yeah. What else do I have to lose? Oh, I gotta be a statue longer? Fucking do it. Yeah. So I mean, I get the consent thing, but I I feel like that's misplaced in this because I don't know. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 52:36

So Saks had to make a decision. Was it right to disrupt the status quo of these long-suffering patients, potentially exposing them to emotional turmoil for a chance at revival?

SPEAKER_00 52:48

How would you have known that though?

SPEAKER_02 52:50

Sax decided it was right. Yeah. And Leonard's own words, quote, I feel saved. I have broken through the barriers, suggests that from the patient's perspective, those awakened days were worth it.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

100%. I I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

So in his long-standing relationship with Leonard and others, he felt a responsibility to stand by them before, during, and after the L DOPA trials.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Good for him.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

He did not simply administer a pill. He shared in their hopes, their disappointments, and their care over the years. In Awakenings, Sachs writes with humanity and a deep sense of concern, making it clear that true healing was a complex art. It demanded caring for the patient's soul, not just treating their disease.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

So this humanistic approach is an is an ethical lesson from Leonard's story. Patients like him were not objects of experimentation, but partners in a journey, each with a personal story that mattered.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Which I agree with. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

I'm going to end on a fun fact.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

I like fun facts.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

The minor planet 84928 Oliver Sacks, discovered in 2003, was named in Oliver Sachs' honor.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

He discovered a planet?

SPEAKER_02 54:10

No, they named a planet after him.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

Oh. When did Saks die?

SPEAKER_02 54:17

80s? In the 1980s? 80s. Or maybe the 2000s? I read it at one point. I did. I did, sure did. I don't I'm sorry. Oh Lord have mercy. He died August 30th, 2015, at the age of 82. That's where I got the 80s. He was 82.

SPEAKER_00 54:43

So is there anyone left with this in in life?

SPEAKER_02 54:48

I did not research that.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

I feel like you should have. Because if it just disappeared. Do you think it went to his planet?

SPEAKER_02 54:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

Yes. But you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Like there are no confirmed patients still suffering with encephalitis. Lethargia Lethargica.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

Yeah, lethargica. I mean, good on us for that, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Isn't that a wild story?

SPEAKER_00 55:21

It it's fucking weird because could you imagine being trapped? Like, coma is one thing.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

You're a quote unquote not lucid it anyway. Like you're not even you're not awake, you're not conscious.

SPEAKER_00 55:39

And I know like they always say, well, talk to them, read books to them and such when they're in a coma. Just in case. Because you know, they can hear you, they can hear your voice, they hear your energy and all that stuff. Whatever, blah blah blah. These people were alive and they could hear shit. Whatever. They weren't they weren't in a coma. They were paralyzed.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

Their whole body just including their mouth.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

Except for apparently their fucking hand.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

Well, his.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

So could other patients of that not write?

SPEAKER_02 56:16

We'll have to watch the movie to find out, folks. That's fucking s so I read that um the book is pretty good, but they go into a lot of like scientific background that some people couldn't quite grasp, but the actual story was pretty amazing to read about.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

So you said Sachs wrote the book? Yes. Correct?

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Yes, he wrote many books.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

Oh, he did. He did. What year did the awakenings come out? I don't think some of my questions are so unrealistic.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

No, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

You just can't accommodate all of them?

SPEAKER_02 56:57

Wow. And this happened in 69.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:00

So it was pretty quick. I think I think it was a good time frame. Like it wasn't so close, and it wasn't like decades later.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 57:10

And then the film Awakenings was 1990.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

That was 90? Holy crap. And you said RDJ's in that? I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 57:19

I think he's Leonard.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

That would make sense.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

And Robin Williams plays Dr. Sax, but their version of Dr. Saxe. Whatever name and whatever.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:30

I would definitely watch that with you. And now I want to because I've never seen I'm I'm 100% sure I've never seen that movie. Again, I knew of it, never watched it. I love Robin Williams, Tortured Soul. But uh he was great.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

I miss I missed uh his comedy and his general personality. Oh, he was so talented.

SPEAKER_02 57:54

Talent of the wazoo.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

Oh, he was he was so good. And I I mean it's funny. There's some quote that I'm I'm not gonna remember, so just generalize it. But it's like typically the funniest people are the saddest or whatever. It's there's it's more in depth than that. Obviously, I'm just fucking not making light of it. I'm just I don't remember it. But yeah, he was he was something else. I grew up on him with Mork and Mindy. Did you ever watch that show? You're too young for that, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

I watched Mork and Mindy and all of his other shit and whatever, and you know, Hook and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 58:27

I mean fucking you just said Hook is like what 35 years this year.

SPEAKER_00 58:34

Oh, yeah. I was I was reading off those movies. Was that the 35-year one?

SPEAKER_02 58:37

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

It's gotta be close, if not.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Shit.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Because now I'm drawing a blanket.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

1991.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

So it's 35 years.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

1991, yeah. Oh my gosh. Jeez Louise. Hook is great. Gosh, we have so many movies to watch.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Well, let's just call in sick.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

How how did you like the boating type?

SPEAKER_00 59:00

I haven't had Bodingtons, but I've had Boddingtons.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Boddingtons.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

I I haven't had it in a long time. It it's good. I enjoy it. It's not something I would drink on the regular basis.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

I didn't happen to finish mine.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

Yeah, I saw that. Very well. Yeah. Very well done. Um Bravo.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

Pip pip.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Pip pip.

SPEAKER_02 59:23

Pip pip Cheerio and all that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 59:26

Never can't wait. Anyways. Um when you when you drank it, you notice how it's a little more airy.

SPEAKER_02 59:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:33

That is from the intentional and the widget and all that stuff and so on.

SPEAKER_02 59:37

Isn't actually called a widget?

SPEAKER_00 59:39

Yeah, typically. I don't know if it says it on the can, but yeah, it's it's called a widget.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

I will uh teach you teach you that after we're done with it. Oh dear. I just yawned. Why? Why would you do that? I don't know. We're we're on camera. Sorry. So uh that is fucking weird. Um pretty wild stuff. Yeah. But I couldn't imagine being trapped in my own body and not being able to fully communicate or move or anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

For thirty years. I mean, I plus.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

Yeah. I have a hard time sleeping, let alone thirty years. I mean, holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:23

Because he was awakened for a month and a half and then and that was 69 and then he died in 81.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:29

God damn. So another 12 years-ish.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

Ish, depending on your time.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:35

Yeah, exactly. That he went back to it. That's so fuck. And it just disappeared. That whole disease just disappeared. So what's the difference between encephalitis and encephalitis lethargia?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Okay, so of course you had to ask that. I literally had what the what the difference was between encephalitis lethargica and Parkinson's.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

I literally looked that up.

unknown 1:01:02

Ugh.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:03

Rude. So what's the difference on that? I'm looking. Wow. I was just told to shut up on camera on audio. I feel so. I'm gonna drink a beer while she's looking this up because. Oh, that was a nice crack of can.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Encephalitis is a general term for brain inflammation.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

The cause is viral, like herpes or West Nile. It's autoimmune and it's uh post-infection.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:36

Encephalitis lethargica um is unknown.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

So I feel like this is all made up.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Um, the onset of encephalitis is sudden, days to weeks. Encephalitis lethargica is graduated, sometimes sometimes sudden.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

The symptoms in the acute phase for encephalitis is fever, seizures, confusion, and coma. Lethargica is extreme sleepiness, eye movement issues, and ketatonia. Um, in the chronic phase for encephalitis, may recover to sorry, may recover or have resist residual neurological issues.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

Lethargica is post-encephalitis. Parkinson's rigidity and acuse kinesia, which is a lack of movement.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Um fatality rate for encephalitis varies from 5% to 30%. Oh, wow. Lethargica is high during epidemic. Many survivors had lifelong effects. Um encephalitis is around today, and it and uh lethargica is not.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:51

Isn't it just wild that it just completely like just poof? Peace out, homies. We're gonna go to a different planet.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

The treatment for encephalitis is antiviral supportive care and immunotherapy. Um, lethargica was nonspecific. L dopa used decades later in chronic phase.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

Is L DOPA still a thing?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

Maybe for Parkinson's.

unknown 1:03:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

Yeah. Um, it is all encephalitis is also known as brain inflammation. Lethargica is the sleepy sickness.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:29

The sleepy sickness.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:30

And encephalitis public awareness is moderate, especially during viral outbreaks. And for lethargica, it was famous due to Dr. Oliver Sachs's awakenings.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

That's wild. I mean, uh I again I will end on this. If I was if I was Leonard or one of the people that made up Leonard, I would have been fucking appreciative of Dr. Sachs for waking me up for a month and a half. It is, okay. Um that makes sense. I mean, like you said, there had a lot of commonalities between it, so okay. I I totally get that.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:10

So isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:12

It really is. I mean, I couldn't even imagine. So yeah. Well.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

I suppose.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

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SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

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SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

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SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

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