J. Marion Sims
1603749
219012515
2008-06-13T04:45:12Z
Jim.henderson
2255048
/* Repair of vesicovaginal fistula */ + [[Image:Jmarionsimsjeh.JPG]]
'''J. Marion Sims''', born '''James Marion Sims''' ([[January 25]], [[1813]] – [[November 13]], [[1883]]) was a surgical pioneer, considered ''the father of American [[gynecology]]''. <ref name="Brinker">{{cite web| author=Brinker, Wendy |url=http://www.seedshow.com/jmsims.htm |title=James Marion Sims, Father Butcher| access=March 8, 2007}}</ref> However, modern historians have noted that many of his major contributions were the result of extensive experimentation on [[slave]]s.
[[Image:JMSims.jpg|frame|right|J. Marion Sims]]
==Early career==
Sims was born in Hanging Rock, [[South Carolina]], son of John and Mahala Mackey Sims. Sims' family spent the first twelve years of his life in the Heath Springs area of Lancaster county. He would later write entertainingly of his early school days, but recalled one occasion when he had to be saved from drowning by fourteen-year-old Arthur Ingram, who lived south of Hanging Rock Creek.
His father, John Sims, was elected sheriff of Lancaster County in 1825 and thereafter took up residence in Lancaster, where the boy, Marion, entered Franklin Academy.
After studying medicine with Dr.Churchill Jones in [[Lancaster, South Carolina]], and at the Medical College of [[Charleston, South Carolina|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]].
He returned to Lancaster in 1836 to marry Theresa Jones, the daughter of Dr. Barlett Jones, with whom he had fallen in love while studying at South Carolina College in Columbia. They would return to Alabama together, where in 1845, Marion Sims established a private hospital for women.
==Repair of vesicovaginal fistula==
Women with [[vesicovaginal fistula]]s - usually the result of traumatic labor - were, in those days, social outcasts. No cure was available. In [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], Sims used three Alabama [[slave]] women - Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy - whom he considered to be less than human, to develop new techniques to repair this condition.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web|url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E3D81131F93BA15753C1A9659C8B63&sec=health&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink| title=Scholars Argue Over Legacy of Surgeon Who Was Lionized, Then Vilified|author =Lerner, Barbara| source=[[New York Times]]''|date= October 28, 2003}}</ref> From 1845 to 1849 he experimented on them, operating on them up to 30 times each; although anesthesia had recently become available, he did not use it on the slave women.<ref name="NYT"/> <ref name="Brinker"/> After the extensive experiments, 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 on white women with fistulas, this time with anesthesia.
[[Image:Sims.Speculum.jpg|thumb|Sims Speculum]]
[[Image:Jmarionsimsjeh.JPG|thumb|In Central Park]]
These experiments set the stage for modern vaginal surgery. Sims devised instruments including the ''Sims' [[Speculum (medical)|speculum]]'' to gain proper exposure.<ref name="Brinker"/>
A rectal examination position where a patient is on the left side with the right knee flexed against the abdomen and the left knee slightly flexed is also named after him as ''Sims' position''. He insisted on cleanliness. His technique using [[silver]] [[sutures]] led to successful repair of a fistula, and was reported in [[1852]].
==New York and Europe==
Sims moved to New York in [[1853]] due to health reasons, where he founded the first hospital for women in America. In [[1862]] he moved to Europe, and worked primarily in [[London]] and [[Paris]], and from 1863 to 1866, served as surgeon to the [[Eugénie de Montijo|Empress of the French]]. Honors and medals were heaped upon him for his successful operations in many countries. Under the patronage of [[Napoleon III]], he organized the American-Anglo Ambulance Corps.
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.
He was planning a return visit to Europe when he died of a heart attack on November 13, 1883 in [[New York]], New York. His statue can be found in [[Central Park]] and on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. Sims was inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1953.
==Contributions==
*Vaginal surgery: [[fistula]] repair
*Instrumentation: Sims' [[speculum]]
*Surgical positioning: Sims' position
*Fertility treatment: [[Insemination]]
*[[Postcoital test]]
==References==
<div class="references-small">
<references />
<ol type="A">
<li>Washington, Harriet A. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present [http://www.medicalapartheid.com/]
<li>Speert H. ''Obstetrics and Gynecologic Milestones''. The MacMillan Co., New York, 1958, pages 442-54.
<li>Spencer, Thomas. "UAB shelves divisive portrait of medical titans: Gynecologist's practices at heart of debate." ''[[Birmingham News]]'', January 21, 2006.
<li>Gamble, Vanessa. "Under the Shadow of Tuskegee: African Americans and Health Care". American Journal of Public Health, November 1997, page 1773.
<li>Sims, J. Marion. "The Story of My Life". Appleton, New York, 1889, pages 236-237.
</ol>
</div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, J. Marion}}
[[Category:Medical ethics]]
[[Category:1813 births]]
[[Category:1883 deaths]]
[[Category:Gynecologists]]