Sims, J. Marion; Silver Sutures in Surgery the Anniversary Discourse before the New York Academy of Medicine
NEW YORK, SAMUEL S. & WILLIAM WOOD, 1858 , PAPER BACK
Overall Condition is: FAIR
covers missing, seperated at page 16, long island historical society stamped on bottom of title page, black and white illustrations, pages brittle, pages yellowing James Marion Sims (January 25, 1813 – November 13, 1883) was an American physician and a pioneer in the field of surgery, known as the father of modern gynecology .[3] His most significant work was the development of a surgical technique for the repair of vesicovaginal fistula, a severe complication of obstructed childbirth. He is also remembered for inventing Sims' speculum, Sims' sigmoid catheter, and the Sims' position. However, one would be hard pressed to find a more controversial figure in the history of medicine. [4] Sims perfected his surgical techniques by operating without anesthesia on enslaved black women.[3][4] In the 20th century, this was condemned as an improper use of human experimental subjects and Sims was described as a prime example of progress in the medical profession made at the expense of a vulnerable population .[3] But Sims' medical ethics have also been defended by modern commentators. For instance, physician and anthropologist L. Lewis Wall, founder of the Worldwide Fistula Fund, has argued that Sims conformed to the accepted medical practices of the time and that his operations on slave women provided effective relief from a previously untreatable condition catastrophic to their health and quality of life.[5] So far as we know, the subjects were willing; they had no other option. According to Sims, the slave women were clamorous for the operation.[4]
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