James Marion Sims
| J. Marion Sims | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | January 25, 1813 Lancaster County, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died |
November 13, 1883 (aged 70) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Jefferson Medical College |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Spouse(s) | Theresa Jones |
| Children | Florence Sims |
| Parent(s) | John Sims Mahala Mackey |
| Relatives |
John Allan Wyeth (son-in-law) Marion Sims Wyeth (grandson) John Allan Wyeth (grandson) |
James Marion Sims (January 25, 1813 – November 13, 1883) (known as J. Marion Sims) was an American physician and a pioneer in the field of surgery, known as the "father of modern gynecology". His most significant work was to develop a surgical technique for the repair of vesicovaginal fistula, a severe complication of obstructed childbirth.
Sims' use of enslaved African-American women as experimental subjects is considered highly unethical by modern historians and ethicists. He is considered "a prime example of progress in the medical profession made at the expense of a vulnerable population." Physician L.L. Wall has attempted to defend Sims on the basis of his conformity to accepted medical practices of the time, the therapeutic nature of his surgery, and the catastrophic nature for women of the condition he was trying to fix.
J. Marion Sims (called Marion) was born in Lancasterville, South Carolina, the son of John and Mahala Mackey Sims. Sims's 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 was 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 two years of study at the South Carolina College in Columbia, Sims worked with Dr. Churchill Jones in Lancaster, South Carolina, and took a three-month course at the Medical College of Charleston. He moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and enrolled at the Jefferson Medical College, where he graduated in 1835. He returned to Lancaster to practice but, after the deaths of his first two patients, moved to Alabama.
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