___________ the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is considered a prestigious honor, the committee has made at least one mistake in granting the award. Antonio Caetano de Abreu Friere Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist, received the award in 1949 for the controversial psychosurgery called lobotomy. Moniz invented the procedure in 1936, as a way to treat people with schizophrenia. The operation caused irreversible brain damage when incisions were made in the prefrontal region that destroyed connections within the brain. According to one medical researcher, Moniz operations did not result in any deaths, and his method was acclaimed as a valid treatment for mentally ill patients in the United States, Brazil, and parts of Western Europe, including Italy. His supporters believed that the possible benefits of severing brain connections, including a decrease in aggressive personalities and behaviors, far outweighed any medical risks. _________ there were not alternative therapies available in the early 20th Century for people with severe mental illness, Moniz was erroneously hailed as a medical genius; with accolades culminating in the unfortunate awarding of medicine’s most prestigious honor.   

Which words or phrases, if inserted in order into the blanks in the passage, would help the reader understand the sequence and tone of the writer’s ideas?