J. Marion Sims
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J. Marion Sims, born James Marion Sims (January 25, 1813 – November 13, 1883) was a surgical pioneer and considered the father of American gynecology.
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[edit] Early career
Sims was born in Hanging Rock, South Carolina. After studying medicine with Dr.Churchill Jones in Lancaster, South Carolina, and at the Medical College of Charleston, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1835. He returned to Lancaster to practice, but after the death of his first two patients moved to Alabama.
[edit] Repair of vesicovaginal fistula
Women with vesicovaginal fistulas that were usually the result of traumatic labor were in those days social outcasts. No cure was available. In Montgomery, Sims developed a new technique to repair this condition. His innovations set the stage for vaginal surgery. Sims devised instruments including the Sims' speculum to gain proper exposure.
A rectal examination position where a patient is on left side with right knee flexed against abdomen and left knee slightly flexed is also named after him as Sim's position. He insisted on cleanliness. His technique using silver sutures led to successful repair of a fistula and was reported in 1852. His long-suffering subjects, three slaves, Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy, are not to be forgotten: they underwent about 40 operations without the use of anesthesia that had by that time become available.
While Sims was lionized in his day, his actions are now condemned by most medical ethicists and commentators.
[edit] New York and Europe
Because of health reasons, Sims moved to New York in 1853 where he founded the first hospital for women in America. In 1862 he moved to Europe, and worked primarily in London and Paris. In 1871 Sims returned to New York, and after quarreling with the board of the Woman's Hospital over the admission of cancer patients (which he favored), went on to found a new hospital, later to evolve into the Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases.
Sims died in New York, New York. His statue can be found in Central Park.
[edit] Contributions
- Vaginal surgery: fistula repair
- Instrumentation: Sims' speculum
- Surgical positioning: Sims' position
- Fertility treatment: Insemination
- Postcoital test
[edit] Critique
Sims' experimental treatment of slave women and practice of conducting operations without anesthesia has been criticized.[1]
[edit] References
- Speert H. Obstetrics and Gynecologic Milestones. The MacMillan Co., New York, 1958, pages 442-54.
- Spencer, Thomas. (January 21, 2006) "UAB shelves divisive portrait of medical titans: Gynecologist's practices at heart of debate." Birmingham News.
- New York Times, October 28, 2003
Scholars Argue Over Legacy of Surgeon Who Was Lionized, Then Vilified
