J. Marion Sims, American physician and gynecologist (b. 1813)
James Marion Sims (January 25, 1813 – November 13, 1883) was an American physician in the field of surgery, known as the "father of modern gynecology" – but also as a controversial figure, due to the ethical questions raised by how he developed his techniques. 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, as medical ethicist Barron H. Lerner states, "one would be hard pressed to find a more controversial figure in the history of medicine."Sims developed his surgical techniques by operating without anesthesia on enslaved black women. 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". Sims' practices were defended as consistent with the US in the era in which he lived by physician and anthropologist L. Lewis Wall, and according to Sims, the enslaved black women were "willing" and had no better option.Sims was a voluminous writer and his published reports on his medical experiments, together with his own 471-page autobiography (summarized by Wylie), have been the main sources of knowledge about him and his career. His positive self-presentation has, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, been subject to revision.