James Marion Sims was an American physician from the nineteenth century who seeked a cure for a disease women contained. He eventually developed the cure for vesicovaginal fistula. The question in which if he's a hero or villain still stands to this day, considering the fact that his patients were enslaved African American women. Rumors have it that he performed horrific acts on the patients. Even though he practiced human experimentation (which were very painful at the time), his intentions were understandable and has caused him to earn the name “The Father of Gynecology.” We owe it to him that women nowadays containing vesicovaginal fistulas can receive treatment and rehabilitate. Dr. J Marion Sims left behind a great legacy …show more content…
He is the most famous and known American surgeon from his era. Although he did achieve great things in which has caused him his fame, there are some very dark, shocking tales that have been claimed to his background. Like all surgeons, he had to originate his career somewhere. He wasn’t always the great “Father of Gynecology” he is known to be. When he was still a rookie of a surgeon he had two patients whom he attended; both children. He is said to have killed them both (according to his biography) by removing their gums and furthermore not have finished and treated them afterwards. This was all before he became famous though. His fame began when he discovered a cure for a condition women embodied known as vesicovaginal fistula. He acquired the title “The Father of Gynecology” for the catholicon of the infection. In honor of his discovery, his name is now placed on hospitals, dormitories, and endowed …show more content…
If it wasn’t for him vesicovaginal fistula cure would’ve been invented later on after more women suffered their life with it. He dedicated his whole life trying to perceive the antidote. The women that died during his operations contributed to this success. It wasn’t easy experimenting on these womens’ vaginas; the repugnant odor of them that Sims had to withstand is proof alone. The women that died during his operations contributed to this success. Dr. James Marion Sims discovered the cure for vesicovaginal fistulas. He is the “Father of
Popular television paint a glorified image of doctors removing the seriousness of medical procedures. In the non-fiction short story, “The First Appendectomy,” William Nolen primarily aims to persuade the reader that real surgery is full of stress and high stakes decisions rather than this unrealistic view portrayed by movies.
Specifically, one of his writings called, On the Diseases of Virgins, became a work in the Hippocratic Corpus, that addresses the virgin’s disease, or ‘morbus virgineus;’ an alleged illness that afflicts ‘parthenoi.’ Hippocrates professes symptoms that include poor coloring, swelling, difficulty breathing, palpitations, headaches, and other problems; at the same time, the most outrageous concern involves ‘a female’s menstruation
“One of the most consistent medical characterizations of the anatomy of both African women and lesbians was the myth of an unusually large clitoris.” (27) Another medical journals in 1921 also stated that “Female homosexuality will in practically every instance disclose an abnormally prominent clitoris, and so in colored women.” (27) Even though these data may sometimes be exaggerated because researchers wanted to emphasize on the difference, it still showed that women’s bodies had a strong connection with race and sexuality
Orenthal James Simpson (O.J) puts the tragic in tragic hero. This NFL and film superstar wore his pride on his sleeve, and wanted everyone to strive to be like him. Simpson changed so many people’s lives for the better, and thousands of people aspired to be just like him. It wasn’t until his hamartia got the best of him, and his life was reversed completely. Once he recognized his mistake, it was far too late, and both his family and society were taken by complete and utter surprise, and he had to live with what he had done. Simpson made the entire world feel bad for his actions for eleven long months, until October 3rd, 1995, when society felt a sense of catharsis from the consequences of his actions. Through the elements of a tragic hero,
At that point, more than 15,000 women were dying each year from cervical cancer. The Pap smear had the potential to decrease that death rate by 70 percent or more, but there were two things standing in its way: first, many women- like Henrietta-simply didn’t get the test; and, second, even when they did, few doctors knew how to interpret the results accurately, because they didn’t know what the various stages of cervical cancer looked like under a microscope. (29)
In Carlos Williams’s short story, “The Use of Force,” the doctor’s use of force is portrayed in a way that is controversial. Controversial in that it could easily be argued either that the doctor has complete reason to use force upon the girl, or that the doctor has no right to use any amount of force upon the girl without her consent. It could also be argued either that the results of the doctor’s use of force is a success or a failure. I feel that the doctor has reason to use force upon the girl in order to check her tonsils for a number of reasons. I believe this because the doctor has reason to use force because he believes that the girl has diphtheria based on his knowledge of numbers of other children at her school suffering from cases of diphtheria. I believ...
The Gross Clinic, or, The Clinic of Dr. Gross, is an 1875 painting by American artist Thomas Eakins. The medium is oil on canvas and the piece measures 8 feet by 6.5 feet. The picture captures Dr. Samuel D. Gross, a seventy-year-old professor dressed in a black frock coat, lecturing a group of Jefferson Medical College students. The atmosphere of the piece is dark and disturbing, yet in a very philosophical manner. A surgery is being performed by several practitioners all at one time. The body that lies upon the operating table is indistinguishable; it is impossible to tell both the gender of the patient and what part of the body the surgery is being performed on. But it is also this ambiguity that captures one’s attention. The body lies
Olivia Anderson had it all. The fame, the overwhelming respect, and the most charming husband. She achieved all of her aspirations in life, but one accomplishment that received the most accolades was when she became the first woman to become Chief of Surgery and win a Noble Prize the exact same year. As the the humble and classy woman she is, she never let the praise and admiration of people let her forget where she came from and how blessed she is to have the life she has today.
Slave-midwives avoided methods and drugs that were common for the male physicians during this time. While doctors were using cupping, leeching, urination and even vomiting to assist in childbirth, midwives used more traditional methods to maintain control during the birthing process. Doctors also relied on episiotomies to assist in childbirth, but since these often resulted in infection and sometimes even death, midwives avoided resorting to this procedure. They instead would apply oil to the vulva, strengthening the muscles for the delivery process. To induce labor, midwives would create tonics and even burn roots, directing the smoke into the vulva. A slave-midwife from Kentucky, Easter Sudie Campbell, describes a tonic she would mix to cure the swelling of the glands, “I cans cure scrofula wid burdock root and one half spoon of citrate of potash. Jes make a tea of burdock root en add the citrate of potash to hit” (Tunc, 2010).
Christina Goldstein, an orthopedic surgeon located in Columbia, Missouri, has greatly impacted my life in various ways. She was involved in 2 of my 3 spine surgeries. She is educated, faithful, caring, and a woman. Amongst the surgeons practicing in the United States, a mere 19% are women, Her dedication for medicine has only furthered my interest to pursue a surgical career. Seeing such a prestige female surgeon gives me hope and drive to be as great as Christina.
The book, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, by James H. Jones, was one of the most influential books in today’s society. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment study began in 1932 and was terminated in 1972. This book reflects the history of African Americans in the mistrust of the health care system. According to Colin A. Palmer, “James H. Jones disturbing, but enlightening Bad Blood details an appalling instance of scientific deception. This dispassionate book discusses the Tuskegee experiment, when a group of physicians used poor black men as the subjects in a study of the effects of untreated syphilis on the human body”(1982, p. 229). In addition, the author mentioned several indications of discrimination, prejudice,
Many of this society’s beings regard the physicians that conduct these procedures to my own creator, Dr. Frankenstein. NO ONE will be as disgusting as own daemonic creator. He created me out of obsession. He had a thirst to play with the line of ethical science to create his own being. Dr. Frankenstein was supposed to love and nurture his wretched creation, but he abandoned me as soon as he saw thee. To think I had almost forgiven that mad scientist. I told him to make me a wife, so I would have the Eve to Adam. He accepted and led me to think he was working hard just to make me happy and keep me away from mankind. I was benevolent and good. Misery made me a fiend (Shelley
Andreas Vesalius was well known for his dissections in the 1500’s. Growing up in Brussels he was captivated by the anatomy of animals. Throughout his childhood Andreas dissected many small animals trying to uncover life’s mystery. This curiosity regarding anatomy came very naturally, due to the fact that he was born into a family of physicians. Vesalius started his formal education at the University of Louvain; then traveled to Paris to continue his studies in medicine. During his life time, Vesalius was an accomplished physician, and professor of anatomy. He also received his degree as a doctor of medicine at the age of twenty-two. Vesalius writings and teachings set the foundation of anatomy we know today, hence why he received the title; founder of modern anatomy.
In 1932, in the area surrounding Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Rosenwald Foundation began a survey and small treatment program for African-Americans with syphilis. Within a few months, the deepening depression, the lack of funds from the foundation, and the large number of untreated cases provided the government’s researchers with what seemed to be an unprecedented opportunity to study a seemingly almost “natural” experimentation of latent syphilis in African-American men. What had begun as a “treatment” program thus was converted by the PHS researchers, under the imprimatur of the Surgeon General and with knowledge and consent of the President of Tuskegee Institute, the medical director of the Institute’s John A. Andrew Hospital, and the Macon County public health officials, into a perspective study-The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (Jones1-15). Moreover, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which began in 1932 and was terminated in 1972 by the protest of an enraged public, constituted the longest nontherapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. Since the premise on which the experiment was based did not involve finding a cure or providing treatment, the question then remains why did the study begin and why was it continued for four decades?
The story started when Henrietta felt knots in her body. People around her said that maybe the knots were because she was pregnant. However, Henrietta never felt these knots before she was pregnant. After a week, she felt something was wrong with her body and she turned up pregnant with her fifth child. Her cousins, Sadie and Margaret, told her that the pain probably had something to do with the baby. “However, Henrietta said that it was not, because the knot is there before the baby” (Skloot 36). After her son was born, Henrietta told her husband, David Lack, to bring her to the doctor because she was bleeding in her vagina when it was not her time. They went to a clinic at Johns Hopkins hospital. In this hospital, Howard Jones, a gynecologist, did an examination of Henrietta an...