James Marion Sims's Case Study

James Marion Sims was an important milestone in history for he was the doctor to revolutionize women's reproductive health. Most doctors in his time would refuse to even examine women because it was highly against the standards. However, he practiced on slaves in order to find cures to some of the worst infections. He changed the face of women's healthcare and opened up a whole new world of learning through gynecology. Sims was so successful that he was the first medical professional to get a statue in his honor. Many know him for what he did, but most do not know how he accomplished what he did as well as the ethical questions brought up from it. J. Marion Sims was a man who cured vesicovaginal fistula and is, by many, considered the father …show more content…
Sims did was astounding, however, it was how he did it that raised many people to question if he was ethical or not. A few major arguments make it easy to understand how many raised ethnic awareness towards what Sims was doing. First off, Sims used slaves for his experiments, and it is debated by many whether or not he had the slaves’ consent. Some say that, by definition, the slaves could not have given any sort of consent to Sims. Others say that there is physically no way that Sims could have performed on them without their total agreement. Secondly, while performing on African-American women, Sims did not use any form of anaesthesia. Much like the last, this topic brought up many arguments discussing if Sims chose not to use any or if he lacked the information to. One article brings up the fact that during the time period of when Sims was experimenting on the women, he was not accustomed to anaesthesia or that anaesthetic properties were not yet introduced until nearly a year later. Both sides are still discussed today because of the more and more information people today are finding out about Sims. There are a few people who even argue that the use of slaves was not necessary because apparently there were some white women with high hopes of him curing them willing to give their full consent as well as money to Sims in return for him to experiment on them (Defatta). It is for sure that no one will find out the full truth of J. Marion Sims due to the fact that …show more content…
He had many accomplishments during his time that led on after he died, such as the many hospitals named in his honor, or the buildings that were built in his name (Ojanuga). Even after he died, there were statues and signs to commemorate him that are still there today. A statue located in New York was placed in 1934 still remains. It reads, “Surgeon and philanthropist, founder of the Woman’s Hospital State of New York. In recognition of his services in the cause of science and mankind.” Another statue is located in Columbia, South Carolina inscribed with the words, “Where the love of man is there also is love of art -Hippocrates”(Caballero). South Carolina his also the home to Dr. J. Marion Sims himself, therefore a sign can be located near his childhood house, proudly proclaiming the birthplace of Sims what he is known for. There are even places in Europe that lionize Sims for his medical advancements there. However, there is a lot of controversy over these monuments due to the fact that some find him unethical. Many would wonder why anyone would ever consider acknowledging Sims for what he did, but most do not know they made those memorials before Sims’ ethics was questioned. In fact, the city of New York is debating whether or not to continue to endorse Sims and his accomplishments or to publicly disapprove by removing his statue. The State of New York held