Wallace permitted the spinal tap and then was contacted by a doctor at the hospital asking for parental consent to perform an experimental brain operation. It was explained to Wallace that if Byers recovered he would be a "vegetable." Wallace asked for time to consult with family members and did not give verbal or written consent. Wallace however rushed down to the hospital and when she arrived found Byers already in surgery. 

Byers' Experience of Psychosurgery 

While in the psychiatric ward, Byers reported pain in his leg, jaw, arm, and abdomen leading doctors to contact his mother Margarite Wallace to ask for parental consent to perform a spinal tap because they suspected Byers had meningitis. Byers was later diagnosed with herpes encephalitis.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

In 1976 Byers violated his parole and was committed to a psychiatric ward in the American Veterans Administration Hospital in Menlo Park, California, an option Byers was given to avoid incarceration in prison. 

Byers' Placement in the American Veterans Administration Hospital

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

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