Research Question: has the history of medical science been built on the foundation of unethical medical research/ experimentation on African Americans?
Summary: this article examines the influence of slavery and race on medical education, practice and research in the American South. The article sheds light on James Marion Sims surgical treatment of enslaved infants suffering from trismus nascentium. Sims became a prestigious figure, but the foundation of his success relied on the use of slave bodies and enslaved patients. "These were distinctive features of the life of an ambitious medical professional in the slave south, where the profession profited from the institution of slavery, and human experimentation and medical research were advanced specifically through the exploitation of the regions enslaved population" ( pg 1). This article was based solely on the condition now known as neonatal tetanus. The symptoms appear from three to ten days after birth and include trismus-- a spasm of the jaw muscles or lock jaw-- clenched fists, excessive flexion of the toes, strifled cry, and inability to suck. Sims would take the infants and puncture their skulls in order to alleviate the spasms, only to kill the infant. But according the Sims it was not his fault they died, it was the fact that they were Black and inferior. This did not happen once, it happened on many occasions all resulting in the same outcome. But the only thing that benefited from this painful and dreadful experience was Sims career.
After reading multiple articles Sims name appears multiple times. But most of the time it is in regards to the medical experimentation he did on those Black women with the vesico-vaginal fistula. But to find another article that shed light on another medical experiment he participated in but this time with infants this has to be deemed unethical. These were infants a few days old that had no say in whether they would wanted their heads bashed in or not. The mothers of these infants never even had a say. This man may be the Father of Gynecology, but the foundation for which his career has been built on is despicable.
Kenny, Stephen C. "I can do no Child no good: Dr. Sims and the Enslaved Infants of Montgomery, Alabama." Social History of Medicine 20.2 (2007): 223-241. Print.
After reading multiple articles Sims name appears multiple times. But most of the time it is in regards to the medical experimentation he did on those Black women with the vesico-vaginal fistula. But to find another article that shed light on another medical experiment he participated in but this time with infants this has to be deemed unethical. These were infants a few days old that had no say in whether they would wanted their heads bashed in or not. The mothers of these infants never even had a say. This man may be the Father of Gynecology, but the foundation for which his career has been built on is despicable.
Kenny, Stephen C. "I can do no Child no good: Dr. Sims and the Enslaved Infants of Montgomery, Alabama." Social History of Medicine 20.2 (2007): 223-241. Print.
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