John M. Freeman, a pediatric neurologist and medical ethicist who became a leading advocate of two long-abandoned therapies to control pediatric epilepsy that have shown to be effective in many cases, died Jan. 3 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 80.
The cause was cardiovascular disease, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the health and research institution that includes the hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Freemans questioning of established medical practices helped transform the treatment of pediatric epilepsy.
He became a proponent of two long-abandoned therapies, which led to their revival and acceptance as effective treatments. One required a strict, unconventional high-fat diet, known as the ketogenic diet (KD). The other involved surgery to remove half the brain of children who were tormented by unremitting epileptic seizures.
According to a Hopkins announcement of Dr. Freemans death:
A high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen that changes the bodys metabolism so that the brain gets its energy from ketones, a fat byproduct, rather than glucose, or sugar, initially was developed in the 1920s but largely abandoned once chemical anti-seizure medications such as Dilantin (phenytoin) were created in the 1930s.
As recently as 1995, many physicians considered KD no longer a viable treatment.
Guy McKhann, founding head of the Hopkins Department of Neurology, explained in the announcement that Dr. Freemans resurrection of KD, which completely eliminated the epileptic seizures of many patients, was accomplished virtually all by himself, against great skepticism and opposition.
One of Dr. Freemans patients who was permanently cured of seizures because of the ketogenic diet was the son of Hollywood producer, writer and director Jim Abrahams ( of the Airplane! and Naked Gun film series), who was prompted to lead an extensive publicity campaign to promote KD treatment in the late 1990s.
Mr. Abrahams established the Charlie Foundation, named for his son, to promote the diet. He also produced an educational DVD for parents and health-care professionals, collaborated on a Dateline program for NBC regarding KD and produced First Do No Harm, a 1997 made-for-TV movie that featured Meryl Streep.
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John M. Freeman, pediatric neurologist, dies at 80