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Few physicians have been as celebrated and loathed as James Marion Sims, M.D., LL.D. Dr. Sims' modest early life and education never could have predicted that he would one day be called the "Father of American Gynecology."1·2 Lauded by contemporaries and early historians as "one of the most original and gifted of American surgeons," he performed the first successful operation to correct vesicovaginal fistulas (a condition that prior to 1852 was known as the "stumbling-block of gynecology").1 Today, the same work that earned Dr. Sims fame, fortune, and innumerable honors has been called into question, because of the unethical manner in which he developed his surgical innovation.1, 3
J. Marion Sims (Fig. 1) was born to John Sims and Mahala Mackey on January 25th, 1813 in Lancaster County, South Carolina.3 James was the first of eight children. By his own account, he was a mediocre student who "never was remarkable for anything. . . except good behavior."3 His father wanted him to become a lawyer, whereas his mother believed that he should become a minister. Out of apathy for either profession, he chose a career in medicine.4
Sims began his medical education in 1833 at Charleston Medical School (known as the Medical University of South Carolina today), where he studied for one year before relocating to Philadelphia in 1834 to attend Jefferson Medical College.3 In May, 1835, Dr. Sims graduated from Jefferson and returned to Lancaster to begin his own practice. Unfortunately, his first two patients, both infants, died under his supervision.3· 4 Dr. Sims relocated to Mt. Meigs, Alabama, but constant bouts of malaria forced him to finally settle in Montgomery, Alabama in 1840, in search of a healthier climate.3· 4 He quickly earned a reputation as a skillful general surgeon and was soon able to build a private eight-bed hospital in the rear of his home.4
During this period, Dr. Sims made a living as a physician...