Page 268
“Mott became agitated…”
Sims’s account of this surgery cuts a few corners, even as it gives the appearance of being an admission of failure. He suggests that the operation improved her condition, even though she soon died—and he reveals nothing of what Mott eventually concluded about Sims’s decision to operate with a device that Mott objected to. I have attempted to fill in some of the silences, and I have taken some liberty with what the men saw when they looked up inside of this woman.
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 207.
“Peritonitis was inevitable…”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, pp. 207-08.
“…lived for several months…”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 209.
“…installed as assistant surgeon…”
See “…the surgeon’s assistant…,” above.
Emmet appeared in Woman’s Hospital records as Sims’s assistant months before the appointment became official.
The minutes of the January 12, 1856, meeting of the Board of Managers are held at the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr. Medical Archives and Mount Sinai Records office at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York.
“…many incurable female diseases…”
Sims’s own words, on the occasion of the Woman’s Hospital annual gala in 1868.
The pamphlet published in honor of the occasion is held at the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes for Health in Bethesda, Maryland, p. 35.
“…Dewees’s tincture…”
See “…tincture of Dr. Dewees…,” above.
“…uterine elevators…”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 263.
