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.

J. Marion Sims
J. Marion Sims

Contents

[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 used three Alabama slave women to develop new technique to repair this condition. From 1845 and 1849 these women were operated upon up to 30 times each. While Sims has been criticized for not using anesthesia, it should be noted that ether was first applied in 1846 and chloroform in 1847. After the extensive experiments that the slave women underwent, Sims finally perfected his technique and repaired the fistulas. It was only after the success of the early experiments on the slaves that Sims attempted the procedure, with anesthesia now available, on white women volunteers.

These advances set the stage for vaginal surgery. Sims devised instruments including the Sims' speculum to gain proper exposure.

Sims Speculum
Sims Speculum

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. Sims involuntary subjects, three women slaves, Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy underwent about 40 operations without the use of anesthesia that had by that time become available.

[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. Sims was inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1953.

[edit] Contributions

[edit] References

    1. Washington, Harriet A. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present [1]
    2. Brinker, Wendy [2] [3]
    3. Speert H. Obstetrics and Gynecologic Milestones. The MacMillan Co., New York, 1958, pages 442-54.
    4. Spencer, Thomas. "UAB shelves divisive portrait of medical titans: Gynecologist's practices at heart of debate." Birmingham News, January 21, 2006.
    5. Lerner, Barbara. "Scholars Argue Over Legacy of Surgeon Who Was Lionized, Then Vilified", New York Times, October 28, 2003.
    6. Gamble, Vanessa. "Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care". American Journal of Public Health, November 1997, page 1773.
    7. Sims, J. Marion. "The Story of My Life". Appleton, New York, 1889, pages 236-237.
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