Leonard Jan Le Vann

Early life

Le Vann was originally an American citizen, and completed his undergraduate degree at the Ethical Culture School in New York. In 1939 he was accepted into the Junior House Surgeon program at the Royal Informatory, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His studies were briefly interrupted when he joined the Spanish Civil War as an anesthetist. Once he returned from the war he became a Junior House Surgeon, Royal Infirmary for the department of Neurosurgery in Edinburgh.

Controversial practices at the Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives

As superintendent of the Provincial Training School, Le Vann was a key player in many sterilizations and antipsychotic drug experiments that took place during the 1950s and 1960s. During the trial, a quote that he wrote in the American Journal of Mental Deficiency was produced. It stated, "The comparison between the normal child and the idiot might almost be a comparison between two separate species. On the one hand, the graceful, intelligently curious, active young Homo sapiens, and on the other the gross, retarded, animalistic, early primate type individual.

In 1953 Le Vann published an article that discussed odor and its negative implications within mental institutions and mental hospitals. In the article he discusses how using a water-soluble chlorophyll derivative has proved to be effective in reducing the odor in the wards. He hoped that by reducing the odor at these facilities there would be an improved rate of recruitment and retention of medical professionals. The review of the article found there to be no correlation between the radioactive fallout and the number of birth defects. Secondly, the article points out that Le Vann never indicated what a "drug" qualified as. Finally, Adler illustrates that this seemed to be a strange practice and drugs should be administered as a last resort.

Publications

Le Vann, L. J. (1953). A clinical survey of alcoholics Canadian Medical Association Journal, 69(6), 584–588. Le Vann, L. J. (1953). Controlling unpleasant odors among mental patients Hospitals, 27(2), 93–94. Le Vann, L. J. (1959). Trifluoperazine dihydrochloride: An effective tranquillizing agent for behavioural abnormalities in defective children Canadian Medical Association Journal, 80(2), 123–124. Le Vann, L. J. (1960). A pilot project for emotionally disturbed children in Alberta Canadian Medical Association Journal, 83, 524–527. Le Vann, L. J. (1961). The use of neuroleptics in mental deficiency Revue Canadienne De Biologie / Editee Par l'Universite De Montreal, 20, 495–500. Le Vann, L. J. (1962). Chlordiazepoxide, a tranquillizer with anticonvulsant properties Canadian Medical Association Journal, 86, 123–125. Le Vann, L. J. (1963). Congenital abnormalities in Alberta Canadian Medical Association Journal, 89(12), 627. Le Vann, L. J. (1963). Congenital abnormalities in children born in Alberta during 1961: A survey and a hypothesis Canadian Medical Association Journal, 89(3), 120–126. Le Vann, L. J. (1968). A new butyrophenone: Trifluperidol. A psychiatric evaluation in a pediatric setting Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 13(3), 271–273. Le Vann, L. J. (1969). Haloperidol in the treatment of behavioural disorders in children and adolescents Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 14(2), 217–220. Le Vann, L. J. (1971). Clinical comparison of haloperidol with chlorpromazine in mentally retarded children American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 75(6), 719–723.