1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Oh, and where where is it hot? Isn't it hot? 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: It's hot, babe, it's summer. The goats are fine. Um. 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: This is Behind the Bastards, a podcast where every week 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: Sovie Liftman asks me if my goats are okay, and 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: I say, they seem to be fine. We shared them recently. Respectfully, 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: I care about your goats. Their goats, you know, they 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: they're good. They they're good at stuff. They're pretty hardy. 8 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: They've been good. That's why they've been goats for so long. 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: Have you ever known any goats? You've been friends with 10 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: the goats? Dr Cava Jota, are we starting your your introductions? 11 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: They're just like an inspiration to us low level podcasters. 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: It's like, uh, you know people who don't appreciate your intros. 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: They're like the same group of people that I thought 14 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: Miles Davis bitches brew was just sound. You know what 15 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: I mean? Thank you, thank you a lot of people 16 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 1: compare me to Miles Davis for many reasons. You're like 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: the Thurston More of podcasts introducing thank you, thank you. 18 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: We're not not quite as good as Ray Donk, who 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: pioneered the tuk tuk sound, but yeah, agreed, um and 20 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: to get to your question. I don't know goats, but 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,119 Speaker 1: they were domesticated in Iran. That's a fun fact for you. 22 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: They were, Yeah, they were yea the Angora goats I 23 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: have Anga comes from. I think Ankawa. Um, so that 24 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: they're those are I guess Turkey Um, but yeah, that's 25 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: that whole. Not as good, but it's not as good, 26 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: not as good. I don't have any I mean my 27 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,559 Speaker 1: mine or Nigerian um some of them. Yeah, so they're beautiful. 28 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: I have I have there there. I would love to 29 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: get some Mernian goats one day. My goat. My goats 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: are very cosmopolitan, you know, they don't judge. Yeah, everyone 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: could use an Iranian goat. I suppose I would love 32 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: it Irani. So we are this is happening where this 33 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: is show. How how do you like? How do you 34 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: like medical experimentation on unconsenting I don't. I don't love it. 35 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: Not a fan, not a fan. Okay, yeah, that is 36 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: that is one of those things that is like currently 37 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: not supposed to be done. Um, we'll see give gifts 38 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: goes another couple of years, am I right? Uh? Good times. 39 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: So we should probably start by talking about what the 40 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: experiments that Dr Simms was conducting on these women actually 41 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: entailed because boy it's a little gruesome. Um. As we 42 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: noted last time, Sims bragg that there was never a 43 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: time in which he could not experiment on a subject 44 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: if he wanted to. But he also noted, quote, my 45 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 1: operations all failed. This went on not for one year, 46 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: but for two and three and even four years, and 47 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: failed operations in this case means a woman is cut 48 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: into and then gets no relief from the already unpleasant 49 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: symptoms that that she's dealing with. Right, So this is 50 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: a problem, right, absolutely brutal. Yeah, it's it's gnarly and obviously, 51 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: like I don't know, one of the things that is 52 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: a little more complete. At some point, some group of 53 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: people were going to need to endure surgeries that were 54 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: not pleasant in order to figure out how to do 55 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: this properly, which is the case with every surgical procedure, right, 56 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: some number of people are going to have to go 57 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: through that procedure when it is less polished and effective, 58 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: because like that's the way learning works, right, Um, yeah, 59 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: it is, it is. But um it's always there's always 60 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: cares taken to do as little harm as you potentially 61 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: can Um. And it makes a big difference if you say, yes, 62 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: I'm willing to endure this, you know, for the sake 63 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: of not just my own relief in the future, but 64 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: expanding the frontiers of human knowledge. Yeah, exactly, the whole 65 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: consent issue. It's like a lot of astronauts died and 66 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: and we celebrate how cool that whole period was for 67 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: us in the Soviet Union. But you know, a lot 68 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:23,919 Speaker 1: of them died, and it would be less of a 69 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: cool thing if, like they had been forced at gunpoint 70 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: to go risk their lives and spaceships. Right, probably movies 71 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: made about it. Yeah, Apollo One would be an even 72 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: more fucked up story if like those guys had been 73 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: led into that capsule at gunpoint before they burned alive 74 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: in there. Um yeah, um. But you know, again, it's 75 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: fundamentally noble and beautiful when human beings agree to endure 76 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: suffering to expand the frontiers of knowledge. It's really fucked 77 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: up when you forced them to do that. Um. I 78 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,599 Speaker 1: don't think this is complicated ethics. I'm not a great 79 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: ethics guy, but I think this is pretty cut and dry. Um. Now, 80 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: I will say Simms was a competent scientist, in the 81 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: technical sense. He was methodical with how he proceeded with 82 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: his experiments. UM. He started by having his own specialized 83 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: instruments made, which took him three months. The first of 84 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,280 Speaker 1: these patients that he operated on was Lucy. She was 85 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: eighteen years old and she had just given birth several 86 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: months before this all started. Because again, when you're talking 87 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: about enslaved women, their primary economic value is in producing 88 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: more people that you can buy and sell um, and 89 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: so you you start that process as early as you can. 90 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 1: Uh Sims noted quote. The case was a very bad one. 91 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: The whole base of the bladder was gone and destroyed, 92 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: and a piece had fallen out, leaving an opening between 93 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: the vagina and the bladder at least two inches in 94 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: diameter or more. That was before the days of anesthetics, 95 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: and the poor girl on her knees bore the operation 96 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: with great heroism and bravery. I had about a dozen 97 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: doctors there to witness the series of experiments that I 98 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,279 Speaker 1: expected to perform. All the doctors had seen my notes 99 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: and examined them and agreed that I was on the 100 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: eve of a great discovery. Every one of them was 101 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: interested in seeing me operate. Now this was initially true. 102 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: Simms's experiments were at first attended by many other doctors, 103 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: and there was a lot of enthusiasm for his work. 104 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: It is worth noting, though, that during this procedure his 105 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: patients were kept completely naked. They were asked to sit 106 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: on their knees and bend forward onto their elbows with 107 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,119 Speaker 1: their heads resting in their hands. Lucy's surgery took about 108 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: an hour, and the doctors who viewed it reported that 109 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: she screamed and cried the entire time. Sims himself wrote 110 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: that Lucy's agony was extreme. Now, his fellow doctors were again, 111 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: these are guys who are fine with using enslaved people 112 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: as test subjects, but they were still horrified by how 113 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: brutal this was um and you know, the realities of 114 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: the surgery became kind of too unsettling for a lot 115 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: of them to ignore. Simms himself wrote, quote, I succeeded 116 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: in closing the fistula in about an hour's time, which 117 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: was considered to be very good work. I placed my 118 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: patient in bed, and it does seem to me, now, 119 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: since things were so simple and clear, that I was 120 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: exceedingly stupid at the beginning. Now in specific The stupid 121 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: thing he had done was he'd used a sponge to 122 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: draw away written from the bladder. Given the fact that 123 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: people didn't know properly about things like germs and sanitation 124 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:09,559 Speaker 1: at this stage, he wound up giving her blood poisoning. Um. Yeah, 125 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: so he had to do a bunch of stuff as 126 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: a result of this blood poisoning. He thought that she 127 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: was going to die from it. Um. She barely survived. 128 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: It takes her months to recover from this first operation. Um, 129 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: which isn't most I think most people would be like, well, 130 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: that's not great, that's not how you want that to go. 131 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: Sims is encouraged though, because once she does survive and 132 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: he gets her on his table again, he sees that 133 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: the fistula he'd been working on it hasn't gone away, 134 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: but it's smaller than he was um now than it 135 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: was now since he can't operate on her again right 136 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: away because she nearly died, so he immediately follows up 137 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: by bringing Betsy up and and doing a different version 138 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: of the experiment on here, using a self retaining catheter 139 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: instead of a sponge. Now, this experiment failed to UM, 140 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,080 Speaker 1: and Sims makes no note as to how painful it 141 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: was for his subject, and it's probably worth noting going 142 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: back to one of Sims's colleagues at this point to 143 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: again give a contrast for how other doctors were approaching 144 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: the same problem. In his defensive Sims, doctor L. L. 145 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: Wall argues that fish july were just so horrific that 146 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: we can assume consent on behalf of the women used 147 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: to subjects, even though they were enslaved, because who wouldn't 148 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: want to be cured of this quote? And this is 149 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: a wall. Consider the following description of what it was 150 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: like to be a woman with a vesico vaginal fishula 151 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: in the mid nineteenth century, given by Dr P. M. 152 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: Kolak at the annual meeting of the Georgia State Medical 153 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: Society in April eighteen fifty seven. The poor woman is 154 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: now reduced to a condition of the most piteous description 155 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: compared with which most of the other physical evils of 156 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: life sink into other insignificance. The urine passing into the 157 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: vagina as soon as it is secreted in flames and 158 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: excoriates its mucous lining, covering it with calcareous depositions, causing 159 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: extreme suffering. It trickles constantly down her thighs irritates the 160 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: integument with its acrid qualities, keeps her clothing constantly soaked. Uh, 161 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: and it makes are basically insupportable to herself and all 162 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: those around her. Um. So, in in pointing this out 163 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: and kind of harping in an extent about how unpleasant 164 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: these things are to endure, Wall is basically repeating the 165 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,079 Speaker 1: argument that Sims makes in his own memoirs. Here's how 166 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: Sims writes about his third named test subject, ANARCA quote. 167 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: Her life was one of suffering and disgust. Death would 168 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: have been preferable, but patients of this kind never die, 169 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 1: They must live and suffer. An ARCA had added to 170 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: the ficial and opening which extended into the rectum. Her 171 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: person was not only loathsome and disgusted to herself, but 172 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: to everyone who came near her. Now, this is Simms's 173 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: argument for why his experimentation was noble. Life was unlivable 174 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: in this condition, So what choice did he have but 175 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: to repeatedly cut into these people? Um. Now, he conducts 176 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: at least thirty failed surgeries on anarca, each as gruesome 177 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: as the ones we've detailed before. And this again there's 178 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: a lot that's fun up here. For one thing, Um, 179 00:09:57,559 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: he's the one saying death would have been preferable. She 180 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 1: doesn't say that would have been preferable. This fucking guy, 181 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: I bet you he doesn't even get like a rectal 182 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: exam without taking a vicut in first. You know what 183 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: I mean to go through an hour long plus thing naked, 184 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: all these people staring at you, this intense pain. It's 185 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: honestly the something it's like out of the movie Hostel. Yeah, 186 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: it's it's and and again all of these doctors are 187 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: kind of like pointing doing something fucked up, even because 188 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: that description we've read above is of a of a 189 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: of a of a free woman like dealing with it 190 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: and how horrible it is. But no matter who they're 191 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: talking about, they all make the comment that, like, your 192 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: life isn't worth living with this this thing. And again 193 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: none of them ask these women if they think their 194 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: lives are worth living, right, Like, that's that's one aspect 195 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: of this that's messed up. Um, And if they did 196 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: that even bother to document it, they didn't care enough 197 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: that it didn't matter enough to them to document it. 198 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: They think it's gross and so like that's to them. 199 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: It's like, that's again, not that this is not a 200 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: serious problem, that very clearly is, but that's pretty messed 201 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: up in my head. Um now. Monica Cronan ads in 202 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 1: the Journal of Anesthesia and Intensive Care quote, after years 203 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 1: without success, Sims decided to stop operating until he could 204 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,440 Speaker 1: solve a problem with sutures. He describes the women in 205 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,439 Speaker 1: his hospitals becoming clamorous for him to continue. The impression 206 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: he creates is that the women were desperate for him 207 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: to continue his experiments, which cements their role as collaborators. Now, 208 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: a few things are worth noting here. The first is 209 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: that the conditions affecting Anarca and the other enslaved women 210 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: that Simms experimented on did not form a vacuum. While 211 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,679 Speaker 1: many free women also certainly suffered from fistula, including members 212 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,599 Speaker 1: of royalty and other ladies of wealth and status, slavery 213 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: absolutely influenced the condition. This is ignored in nearly every 214 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: discussion of what was done to these women. And Arca 215 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: went into labor in eighteen forty five, when she was 216 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: seventeen years old. This was thankfully her first delivery. She 217 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: spent three days in agony before a doctor arrived, Monica 218 00:11:55,679 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: Cronan writes. Quote. Biological anthropologist Patricia Lambert writes that nutritional 219 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: deficiency diseases such as rickets, scurvy, pelagra, and iron deficiency 220 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,599 Speaker 1: anemia are thought to have been common and enslaved communities. 221 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: Perhaps like other enslaved people, and Arca's diet was nutritionally 222 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: deficient and she developed rickets, which caused malformation of her 223 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: pelvis obstructed labor labor was a common result. So again, 224 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,199 Speaker 1: part of why Anarca and these other women may have 225 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: had difficult labors that led to these fistula is that 226 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: they were malnourished because they were enslaved. Right, I'm sure 227 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,719 Speaker 1: nobody was getting great prenatal care back then. Nobody was 228 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: getting it worse. Yeah. Now, the doctor who finally shows 229 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: up to treat Anarca when she's having this difficult pregnancy was, 230 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,080 Speaker 1: of course James Mary and sims Uh. He was eventually 231 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,959 Speaker 1: able to deliver her baby using forceps, which he had 232 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: very little experience with because, as he later wrote, if 233 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: there was anything I hated, it was investigating the organs 234 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: of the female pelvis um. He noted that the baby's 235 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: head was quote so impacted in the pelvis that labor 236 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: pains had almost ceased. Anarca did survive the surgery, but 237 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: the use of the forceps in the general nightmare situation 238 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: of the labor are what led to her fistula. UM. 239 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: It is worth noting James Mary and Sims does not 240 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: record whether or not the baby survived. He didn't consider 241 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: that particularly like worth noting at all. Um. Since she 242 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: could not write or read, we know nothing about how 243 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: she felt about the conditions she suffered after pregnancy. UM. 244 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 1: Simms writes lurally about how nasty and gross it was. 245 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,559 Speaker 1: Um and I think his attempted his account of her 246 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: drips with clear disgust disguised as sympathy. That said, her 247 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: condition was undoubtedly painful, and like any person, she surely 248 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: desired a cure. That does not mean that she must 249 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: then have truly consented to Dr Simms's experimentation. We don't 250 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: have to theorize on this matter. The existence of contemporary 251 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: doctors like Hayward, who conducted fishalist surgeries and experimented on 252 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: free consenting people at the same time, puts the light 253 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,559 Speaker 1: of this quote. And this is from Cronin. Hayward records 254 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: the way in which some women he treated simply returned 255 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: home although a cure had not been achieved, and he 256 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: never heard from them again. The patient presented in eighteen 257 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: forty two, four years before anesthesia, and Hayward records that 258 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: she evidently had no confidence in a successful result and 259 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: therefore returned home despite being in very much the same 260 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: condition she was when she came here. Hayward records a 261 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:18,360 Speaker 1: situation which consent was conditional on a successful outcome. Given 262 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: the opportunity to grant or withdraw consent for further surgery, 263 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: this woman withdrew it despite the limitations brought on by 264 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: her condition. And that's that's the kicker to me, Right, 265 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: other doctors who were fighting the same condition that Sims 266 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: was held to something that approximates modern medical ethical standards. Right, 267 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: they attempted what they attempted, and when the woman said 268 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: I'm done, they let her go, right, And that also 269 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: shows it, like, yeah, it's very impossible all these women 270 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: after that first surgery would have said, you know what, 271 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: I'll deal with it. We can't know because they never 272 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: got the chance to. But like, I can't imagine, I 273 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: honestly just can't imagine. And I know that they probably 274 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: did this whole thing like, well, women are just stronger 275 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: than men. They can handle Oh yeah, we're talking about 276 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: that a little later too. Yeah, but I mean, I 277 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: I just, I mean, I can't imagine anyone's strong enough 278 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: to deal with that. I mean, I there are certainly 279 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: some people. I suspect that if the population of people 280 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: who had this, there would have been there were individuals 281 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: who who would have who would have truly and freely consented. Yeah, 282 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: it takes thirty times, let's do it. There's always people 283 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: who are kind of outliers like that. Um, the fact 284 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: of the matter, and maybe maybe some of the women 285 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: that Sims was experimenting on would have freely chosen this, 286 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: but we'll never know, right, Like, no one bothered to 287 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: ask them, and they were not able to give free consent. 288 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: I just, I mean, at any point in his writings 289 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: Sims does he like acknowledge this was crazy, what this 290 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: this patient went through doing these surgeries so many times? 291 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 1: Does he acknowledge he's made a couple He makes a 292 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: couple of blaze of brief claims that like, oh, she 293 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: handled it bravely like um, but honestly, I mean again, 294 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: he doesn't even name the majority of the women he 295 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: was experimenting on, and we don't even know how many 296 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: times he did on each of them. Right. We know 297 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: he experimented thirty times on an Arca before he got 298 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: it right. Um. Now, obviously, uh, most people in medical 299 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: science as a whole today takes it as axiomatic that 300 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: an enslaved person cannot consent to being experimented on medically. 301 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: Dr Wall disagrees with this, and he uses Simms's own 302 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: writing to argue that consent was given. Quote. Simms gave 303 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: numerous accounts of these early FISTU law operations during the 304 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: course of his career, and although they differ in some details, 305 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: they all state quite plainly that he discussed what he 306 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,239 Speaker 1: proposed to do and obtained consent from the patients themselves 307 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: before undertaking any operations. Writing in the New York Medical 308 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: Gazette and Journal of Health in January eighteen fifty five, 309 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: for example, Sims declared, for this purpose, I was fortunate 310 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: in having three young, healthy colored girls given to me 311 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: by their owners in Alabama. I agreed to perform no 312 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: operation without the full consent of the patients, and never 313 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 1: to perform any that would in my judgment jeopard life 314 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: or produce greater mischief on the injured organs, the owners 315 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: agreeing to let me keep them at my own expense 316 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: till I was thoroughly convinced whether the affliction could be 317 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,880 Speaker 1: cured or not. Now he writes this in eighteen fifty five. 318 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: Now he starts his experiments in eighteen forty five, he 319 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: finishes in forty nine. Right, so this is something he's 320 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: writing years after he gets his this is how we 321 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: do it kind of thing. Um. A lot of Sims 322 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: critics will point out that his autobiography, which is published 323 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: decades after this, emphasized consent because it was now vogue 324 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: to act like you'd always believe that slavery was bad. 325 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 1: The fact that he does write this about their consent 326 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: prior to the Civil War could be seen as evidence 327 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: that he did care about obtaining what he saw as consent. However, 328 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: he's also writing for an international audience who view slavery 329 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: rightly as a borrent, so you could also argue that 330 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: he just knew he was like playing to a crowd 331 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: about his patients autonomy. Right, he's writing for Europe, you know, 332 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:47,239 Speaker 1: because he goes and he works in Europe. After this right. 333 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 1: That's probably why he makes this note. More importantly, Monica 334 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,719 Speaker 1: Cronin notes that sims recollections and claims about his own 335 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: work and treatment of his patients were never entirely trustworthy. 336 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: He claimed in his own public writings that in eighteen 337 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: forty five, prior to starting his experiments, he had investigated 338 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 1: the literature on the subject thoroughly and walked away convinced 339 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: that there were no good solutions proposed. This is unlikely. 340 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: Hayward had published his first account of a successful procedure 341 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty nine, that's six years before Dr sims 342 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: starts his Another doctor Mattawer, had done the same in 343 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: eighteen forty. Now, without being, which is the search engine 344 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: we all use, I'm aware, UM, searching was a lot harder. 345 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: So you're a Jeeves man. You're Jeeves man. That's not 346 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: my brand, but I respect it. Um. But without without 347 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: the only two good search engines being and asked Jeeves, 348 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: searching was a lot harder back then. But Monica Cronin 349 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: notes in eighteen fifty three that Dr Sims right wrote 350 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: a monograph that mentioned the work of both Heyward and Mattawer. 351 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: Now maybe he was unaware of them in eighteen forty five, 352 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,920 Speaker 1: but he there's a good chance he was aware of them, 353 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: And one could argue that he should have been aware 354 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: of them because they were some of the only dudes 355 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 1: publishing in the field that he was experimenting it, absolutely 356 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: aware of him. I'll tell you how it goes. He'll 357 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 1: go to some sort of convention and he'll go to 358 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: some sort of like thing where he's with a bunch 359 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: of doctors trying to impress all these doctors from Europe 360 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: with his like procedure and his technique. And then what 361 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: those doctors do is trying to press everyone in the 362 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: room with their knowledge of the literature. And one of 363 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: those doctors was surely knowledgeable about prior cases and brought 364 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: it in, and his response was probably like, well, you know, yes, 365 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: of course I've seen the paper case report, but you 366 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: know that they weren't dealing with the type of fistula 367 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: that I'm dealing with here. This kind official is a 368 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: very different thing, etcetera. So he was definitely exposed to it. Yeah, 369 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: I I think that, And and again that's again that's 370 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: what Cronin's arguing. And by the way, the fact that 371 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: you've be talking about anesthesia a couple of times. The 372 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: fact that she is an expert on anesthesia writing for 373 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: the Journal of Anesthesia will be real relevant. But we 374 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: got some other ship to get through. But you know 375 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: what we've got to get through first, Yeah, I know, 376 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 1: we got to get through capitalism. Capitalism is the thing, man, 377 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,200 Speaker 1: I'm all about it. I'm all about it. It's good. 378 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: It allows me to have goats. Thank your goats. Honestly, 379 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: I think the goats are before. But like pretty good sandwiches, 380 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: I'm gonna I will say this for capitalism. It's been 381 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:18,639 Speaker 1: a real boon for sandwich innovation. Probably have you have 382 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: fewer kinds of sandwiches prior to capitalism. It's the only 383 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: good thing to come out of capitalism. I think I 384 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: can agree with that. Sandwiches and yeah, sandwiches and goats 385 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:35,239 Speaker 1: invented the goat invented by John capitalism in nine. All right, 386 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: we are back, Okay. So when it comes to modern 387 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: defenses of dr Simms, L. L. Wall next claims quote 388 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: as a matter of surgical practicality, considering the delicate and 389 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: tedious requirements of performing surgery inside the vagina and the 390 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: exceedingly difficult circumstances of exposure and adequate lighting under which 391 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: he was forced to operate. Sims could not have carried 392 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: out these operations successfully without the cooperation of the women involved. 393 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: Even the slightest movement, much less the active resistance of 394 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: these patients, would have rendered it impossible for him to 395 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: have completed his operative procedures. Indeed, when his regular medical 396 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: assistants tired of working with him, Sims trained the patients 397 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: themselves to act as his surgical assistance, and they thereafter 398 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,400 Speaker 1: helped him operate on one another. In turn, he ends 399 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: that sentence with an exclamation point. Now there's a lot 400 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: that's wrong with that, right, there's a lot that's wrong. 401 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 1: She didn't fight, so she must have been fine with 402 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: it so much. Now, first off, his argument is again 403 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: they must have consented because they didn't fight, And then 404 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: they were so intuit that they got trained a surgical assistance, 405 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: which he frames is like, look at how cool it is. 406 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: They're helping him with his his great work. Again, he 407 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: frames this is kind of a triumph. Um. However, number one, 408 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: obviously he owned effectively owns these women in a legal sense, 409 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,040 Speaker 1: they could not agree to it. But also, like other 410 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: write ups of the fact that he trains some of 411 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: these women to be surgical assistants are a lot less cheery. See, 412 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: can I guess, yeah, Is it more like you need 413 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: to hold this person down while I do this? Ding 414 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: ding ding ding ding? Yes? Yes, by being he is 415 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: literally they're not fighting and they're agreeing to hold down 416 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: each other while I like, it's pretty pretty bad like 417 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,879 Speaker 1: when you think about it. Um, that Wall, that wall 418 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: today is making that argument. Um and again Wall simply 419 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: says that Simms is regular medical by which I mean 420 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: white medical assistants tired of the work, and that's why 421 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: he had to train these women. The context Kronin provides 422 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: makes the reality seem a bit more dire. Quote. Originally, 423 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: Simms had a lot of support from the local medical 424 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: community for Lucy's operation. He records another dozen or so 425 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: doctors in attendance to witness his work and to assistant 426 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: support him. As time passed, he received less and less support. 427 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: His brother in law, also a doctor, all but begged 428 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: him to stop, citing the expensive housing additional enslaved women, 429 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: as well as the injustice to his young and growing family. 430 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: Because his attention was so diverted. Within two years, of 431 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: beginning his experimentation, Simms was cast into professional isolation. He 432 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: wrote that despite the many problems he experienced, his patients 433 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,120 Speaker 1: were all perfectly satisfied with what I am doing for them. 434 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: I cannot depend on the doctors, and so I have 435 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: trained them to assist me. So. Furthermore, when Simms does 436 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: finally figure out how to do this procedure in a 437 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: replicable way and he publishes an article on at in 438 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:32,199 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty two, he figures it out before, but the 439 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: article comes out in fifty two. He describes several parts 440 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: of the procedure for which assistance was required, like the 441 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: things he needed these women's help for. And as you 442 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: said first, I mean, it does include stuff like cleaning 443 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: instruments and holding the speculum in place, but it involves 444 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,360 Speaker 1: having them hold each other down while he performs surgery 445 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: on them. Um, you can. Yeah, I'll make your own 446 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: conclusions about the ethics of that. But it's real weird 447 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: that Wall goes to bat for this part of it 448 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 1: to make That's what's interesting about this. And I'm actually 449 00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: kind of glad that you've given me someone to hate 450 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: that's still alive, you know what I mean, it's rare 451 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: that you do that. Usually you give me these stories 452 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: of people who are terrible and then they die and 453 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: there's like that and they died like happily and peacefully. 454 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,200 Speaker 1: But rarely is there like, oh, there's a chance of 455 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:19,879 Speaker 1: this person could experience some consequences and that's that's almost 456 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: heartwarming to me. Yeah, and I one of the stories 457 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: that we're not going to get into enough of the 458 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,719 Speaker 1: last few years is Wall like steadily losing this argument 459 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: within his own field to people, um because he is 460 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:36,439 Speaker 1: He's spent years defending sims Um and eventually people have 461 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,920 Speaker 1: pretty much stopped listening. Um. I don't know what's going 462 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: on with the guy, but he is very much dedicated 463 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: to like defending this man's legacy as opposed to just 464 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: like defending like, well, we need to you know, this 465 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: is a chapter in medical history that's worth studying, which 466 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: it certainly is. But um, part of what's worth studying 467 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:00,880 Speaker 1: is stuff that's sucked up about it. Yeah. Um, So 468 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: nearly every critical piece about Dr Mary and Simms will 469 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: note that one of his sins was failing to use 470 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: anesthesia on his enslaved patients. NPR writes a pretty representative 471 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: summary of this critique quote. Modern critics of Simms also 472 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: note that he conducted these experiments without anesthesia, although the 473 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: Commission does not focus on this element of his research. 474 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 1: His research began during the early days of modern anesthesia, 475 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: as his defenders have noted, After perfecting the technique on 476 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,960 Speaker 1: black women without anesthesia, Simms went on to offer it 477 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,880 Speaker 1: to white women, but he treated white women with anesthesia. 478 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: Gamble noted Simms's own statements on this are mixed. Years 479 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: after his initial tests, he said he still didn't believe 480 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,119 Speaker 1: in using anesthesia for fistualist surgeries because they are not 481 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: painful enough to justify the trouble and risk, But he 482 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: also said the experimental surgeries on his enslaved subjects were 483 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: so painful that none but a woman could have borne them, 484 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: And in his autobiography he describes conducting fistal operations in 485 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,679 Speaker 1: Europe on wealthy women who were sedated. So this is 486 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: such like a small part of a bigger problem about 487 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: how men do awful things to women and then basically 488 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: are like women. How do they handle us? Huh? So strong? 489 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: That was my wife put up with me sucking so 490 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: bad and clearly and you're probably gonna talk about this later, 491 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: but clearly you know this a big part of his uh, 492 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:25,880 Speaker 1: his thought that like she can handle the pain, it's 493 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: because she's black too. Because that was and now and 494 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: now I don't know where to get to that. Yeah, okay, 495 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,239 Speaker 1: we'll get to that. There's a there's a study from 496 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: a journal called Penis that I want to tell you 497 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 1: about later if you don't already have it. So we're 498 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 1: going to talk about your penis a lot. Let's get 499 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: into the pens We we had to had to do 500 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 1: that at some point. So it was inevitable. That was 501 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: just physics, baby, That was just that was just tides 502 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: rolling in. So now I will note so NPR makes 503 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: the statement that like uh, he does conduct fistial experiments 504 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: or operations and women who are subated in Europe. It 505 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 1: is worth noting, to be completely fair about this, that 506 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: NPR does not make us note of when he used 507 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: anesthetic on wealthy white women. And this is important, right, 508 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: And this is again not to like forgive this man, 509 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: but it is worth noting just to be accurate. This 510 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,159 Speaker 1: is a period in which they are starting to figure 511 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,440 Speaker 1: out anesthetics, right, This is a period in which that 512 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 1: that science is very much being born in a meaningful way. Um, 513 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: it was a not at the time a completely agreed 514 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: upon thing. There were substantial medical debate on whether you 515 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 1: should anesthetize patients and when you should anesthetize them, and 516 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: how one of them. This is a side but one 517 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: of the weird things to me is that, um, they 518 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: figure out how to make and have and use nitrous oxide, 519 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,159 Speaker 1: like a hundred something years before this point, like in 520 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,680 Speaker 1: the seventeen hundreds, people are having not like nitrous parties. 521 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: They don't use it until like around this period for 522 00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: the first time in an actual medical procedure, Like we 523 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: know about this ship for a hundred years before someone's like, hey, 524 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: this thing that makes it impossible to feel pain and 525 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: makes people just kind of like pass out. What have 526 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: we What have we use that on surgery? Can we 527 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: maybe try an in instead of like getting them drunk 528 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: and hacking off a limb? Right at some point someone 529 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,399 Speaker 1: would be like, they wouldn't move a lot less, I 530 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: think if they weren't screaming and writing. And it seems 531 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: like alcohol sucks as a pain killer. Oh well, back 532 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: to the axe, Yeah, it does this. It is one 533 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:32,720 Speaker 1: of those things where it's like you had like you 534 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: had God's perfect anesthetic for a hundred years before anyone 535 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: was like, what have we use this for surgery? Could 536 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: this work on the biggest problem in medical science? Yeah? 537 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: I mean also like keep partying with it, fuck it, 538 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: don't keep this at the parties. I mean by eighteen 539 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: forty six, like, uh, it had been well described. We're 540 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: getting into that. Yeah. Sorry, I just wanted to note that, 541 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: like the fact that he's doing in the eighteen sixties 542 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: in Europe he's using anesthetic, doesn't mean that in eighteen 543 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: forty five he would have had it right or known 544 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 1: that it was the right thing to do. The timing 545 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: matters here because you can't specifically call it cruelty for 546 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: not enslaving his enslaved, for not sedating his enslaved patients. Yeah, 547 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: if he did not have the ability to do so, right. Um. 548 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: This is basically the argument that Wall makes in defensive 549 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: sims in this specific aspect. Now, again, this is why 550 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: I'm particularly partial to Monica Cronin's ra posts to Wall, 551 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: because she is an expert in the history of anesthesiology. Um, 552 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 1: and she is particularly trenchant in her dissection of these claims. 553 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,959 Speaker 1: She notes that while Sims did his experiments in Alabama, 554 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,719 Speaker 1: over in Georgia, where he had also spent time, a 555 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: prominent doctor named Crawford Long had been using ether as 556 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: a sedative since eighteen forty two. Tools like that could 557 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 1: have sedated his patients were available if he had one 558 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: of them. I should notice Cronan does that the concept 559 00:29:56,840 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: of anesthetizing patients was new in this period. It was 560 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: not universally agreed upon. Is to win you should anesthetize people. 561 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: That said, she seems to conclude that, based on the 562 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: experiments going on around him, it is unfair to criticize 563 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: him for not using the anesthetics. When he started in 564 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: eighteen forty five, he may not have realistically been able 565 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: to like get access to them. But after eighteen forty six, 566 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: and he carried out dozens of surgeries after eighteen forty six, 567 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: he had the opportunity. The tools were available and it 568 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,680 Speaker 1: was well documented that they worked. Quote Leonard F. Vernon 569 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: argue Simms's lack of training and experience in the use 570 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: of ether would have prevented him from using it, as 571 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: it may have been more of a danger than the 572 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: actual surgery. The idea recurs in defensive sims, Yet lack 573 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 1: of training and experience did not stop him from using 574 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: for steps on Anarca certainly did not stand in his 575 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: way when attempting surgical repair for obstetric fistula, and it 576 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,560 Speaker 1: did not prevent other medical practitioners from using ether anesthesia 577 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: in their day to day practice either. It's like being like, well, 578 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: it was still a little experimental, and maybe he didn't 579 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: know how to use. It's like he didn't know how 580 00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: to do any of the ship he was doing. He 581 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: was an experimental position, Like yeah, and I mean they 582 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: were doing it for dental procedures. Yes, yes, he could 583 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: have could have scruciating, horror, horrific procedure without And obviously, 584 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: like again, I think that you should have to consent 585 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: for I had an uncle who died because he got 586 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,239 Speaker 1: an esthetic that he really did not want and it 587 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: was kind of like a fucked up situation. This was 588 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: before I was born, obviously, Um, but like, I think 589 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: you should have to consent before getting anesthetized. Obviously, at 590 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: least to the extent that that's possible. Sometimes people arrive 591 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: in like a sedative extremists, and you know you have 592 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: to assume certain things. But like in the case of 593 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: an experimentation, obviously they can't consent to being anesthetized anymore 594 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: than they can consent to the experiment. But if you're 595 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: going to experiment on unconsenting people, I guess it's better 596 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,840 Speaker 1: to try to sedate them. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know, 597 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 1: do something something bad that makes them comfortable. Yeah, at 598 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: least try to all, at least show that you care 599 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: about their comfort. I guess, I don't know. Mitigating is 600 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 1: the wrong word, but would at least show that you 601 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: view them as things that the people that are capable 602 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: of experiencing pain, right, um so yeah um now. NPR 603 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,240 Speaker 1: and other critical write ups of Sims will suggest that 604 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: he may have acted as he did out of a 605 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 1: widespread belief that black people suffered pain less acutely than 606 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: white people. It is worth noting that this errant belief 607 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: is still very much alive in medicine today and influences patment, 608 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 1: patient treatment, and outcomes. In two as the website Hidden 609 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: Brain notes quote, black patients continue to receive less pain 610 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: medication for broken bones and cancer. Black children receive less 611 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 1: pain medication that white children for appendicitis. One reason for 612 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: this is that many people inaccurately believe that blacks literally 613 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: have thicker skin than whites and experience less pain. Again, 614 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: this is it's certain that this affected Sims. As far 615 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: as I'm concerned, it is an absolute fact that this 616 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: impact did Dr sims treatment of these people, because it's 617 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,959 Speaker 1: still impacts the way doctors do their ship today. UM. Now, 618 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 1: obviously L. L. Wall rejects this. UM. He notes that 619 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: Sims repeatedly talked about how much pain and Arca, Betsy 620 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: and the other women were in. He definitely does talk 621 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: about them being in pain, but it's always so that 622 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: he can be like what a hero I am for 623 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: treating them, and like they wanted me to, Like right anyway, um, 624 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: part of yeah, sorry, I before we leave that point, 625 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's a really important point to 626 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: show that it's still an issue that question about people 627 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: thinking that black people had thicker skin, literal thicker skin. 628 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: They tested that amongst medical students, and medical students thought 629 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: a little bit more than the average, Like I thought 630 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: a little bit more than you would expect that black 631 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: people had thicker skin. Jesus Christ. Yeah, you know, it's 632 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: it's terr I mean, medical students are not like born 633 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: out of some sort of vacuum. They come from so up. 634 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: But but you know, you would think those people would 635 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: know a little bit better. But that was not uncommon. 636 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: There's a that that study about the appendicitis the white 637 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,160 Speaker 1: kids getting more medication for a pendicize and black kids. 638 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: I was like, back in two thousands, five, two thousand, 639 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: there's a journalist paying the article that came out showing that, uh, 640 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 1: pharmacies and black neighborhoods always carried less opiates and pain 641 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,760 Speaker 1: medication than the pharmacies in white neighborhoods, like almost across 642 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: the board. It was so just in general. That's that's 643 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:20,799 Speaker 1: still I'm glad that you brought up. It's still a 644 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:22,879 Speaker 1: problem we have in the medical community. I mean, it's 645 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: it's been talked about for for a while now, but 646 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: every couple of years, some new article comes out saying 647 00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: like we're under treating these this population. Jesus God. Um. Well, 648 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: so when it I mean, what one thing? So I again, 649 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: I don't want to just be because l O. Wall 650 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,799 Speaker 1: is very very specific. Whenever people make arguments about this 651 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: guy and he gets into like the b he says 652 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,800 Speaker 1: this and this guy says. So to be specific, I 653 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: just mentioned I'm certain that that Dr Sims had this 654 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,880 Speaker 1: racist belief about his black patients. There is documented evidence 655 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: that he held beliefs like this um and not just 656 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 1: towards black people. And this is again makes that case. Uh. 657 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna quote again from Cronin's right up. Mary 658 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: Smith was one of the first women listed on the 659 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,440 Speaker 1: patient register at Simms's newly opened Women's hospital in eighteen 660 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: fifty five. Her first delivery had been in Ireland, where 661 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,840 Speaker 1: she had experienced a prolapsed uterus, a herniated and prolapsed bladder, 662 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,719 Speaker 1: fecal incontinence, and urine leakage that had rubbed her vulvar raw. 663 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:28,440 Speaker 1: Upon examination, Simms declared her a most offensive and loathsome subject. 664 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: Simms and his junior colleague Thomas Emmett performed over thirty 665 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: operations on Smith over a six year period without anesthesia. 666 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,879 Speaker 1: The women's hospital did not routinely administer anesthesia until after 667 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War in eighteen sixty five. 668 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 1: The way Simms wrote about treating a woman patient in 669 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 1: France in eighteen sixty one provides a stark contrast to 670 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: Mary Smith's treatment working with five other people who could assist, 671 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: Sims performed two operations on a twenty one year old woman. 672 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: She was, he wrote, young, beautiful, rich and accomplished, and 673 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,439 Speaker 1: he had never seen a case of this kind which 674 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:05,760 Speaker 1: was attended with such suffering. Clearly, none of the enslaved 675 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,440 Speaker 1: or poverty stricken women he treated earlier had displayed their 676 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 1: suffering in quite the right way. This was a woman who, 677 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,360 Speaker 1: has Sims described, belongs to the higher walks of life. 678 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: So he not only is this a guy who certainly 679 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: believes that like enslaved black women are less capable of 680 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: experiencing pain, he believes that poor Irish women do not 681 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: experience pain to the same way as this rich French lady. 682 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: This is documented and like it's it's very clear when 683 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: you look at the writing about this, like he this 684 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: is a deeply classist, racist man who believes that your 685 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 1: ability to experience suffering is dependent upon your social status. 686 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: The whole princess and the p thing, like if you're 687 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 1: if you're rich and you come from like aristocracy, you 688 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 1: could feel the tiny little pia and your your genteel 689 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: skin from like mattresses away. Yeah, and it's it's just 690 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: very telling to again eighteen fifty five, ten years after 691 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: the star to these experiments, when there were certainly anesthetics 692 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,920 Speaker 1: and sedation available. He is still when the woman's poor 693 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: in somebody he doesn't think about as like a proper 694 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 1: woman operating without any kind of anesthetic, right, and to 695 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:19,759 Speaker 1: get thirty operations on this lady, you know wow, Um, 696 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:26,799 Speaker 1: but you know who always operates with than aesthetic at 697 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:30,400 Speaker 1: least most of the thirty times. Yeah, the products and 698 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,319 Speaker 1: services that support this podcast, um will make sure you 699 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:40,880 Speaker 1: have ample uh access to anesthetic because we're sponsored by Ether. Ether. 700 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: If you just wanted to, like huff out of a 701 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:48,319 Speaker 1: jar and go away for a while, pretty much your 702 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:52,799 Speaker 1: best bet. However, I don't like what you don't want 703 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,760 Speaker 1: to go away for just a little while the news 704 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: is horrible today. I wouldn't mind just a jar of 705 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,400 Speaker 1: forget me now, like just take a sniff and away 706 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:07,719 Speaker 1: you go, like you're not wrong. But also no, well, yeah, 707 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,479 Speaker 1: too bad because we are entirely supported by the Ether 708 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,799 Speaker 1: and that is exclusively our only sponsor. That's our only 709 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:20,000 Speaker 1: sponsor is big either, So get rent yourself, uh one 710 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:22,080 Speaker 1: of those cars you can roll the roof down on 711 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: start going like eighty miles an hour, you know, on 712 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: the highway, and then just tough a little bit of 713 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,399 Speaker 1: either of a little bit of either not a lot, 714 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:31,959 Speaker 1: not enough to pass out. That's not safe. Look, look, 715 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:34,759 Speaker 1: I would prefer your ad, your advert to be that 716 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: and not like dick pills. So big either, yeah, big either. 717 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: And you know if you mix the ether and the 718 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: do not give him what any cause to do this 719 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: more than he already is. No, I'm a doctor. I 720 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:54,800 Speaker 1: totally encourage this behavior. And Robert, it's fantastic either. Okay, okay, 721 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: big trust me right now a doctor. Yeah yeah, So 722 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: that's the right motherfucker we're talking about. Anyway, here's the 723 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:19,600 Speaker 1: ether industry. We're back, and Big Ether is happy to 724 00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,800 Speaker 1: expand its base of clients from a hundred and twenty 725 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:27,279 Speaker 1: year old men who live in castles in the Adirondacks. 726 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:33,520 Speaker 1: So please help Big Ether come into the twenty one century. Um, 727 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:40,520 Speaker 1: it's very flammable, bar the whole blue zone diet. A 728 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:46,319 Speaker 1: lot of shellfish in either some seviche of ether and 729 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:51,200 Speaker 1: thou baby, oh man, that's not a bad and that's 730 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:58,280 Speaker 1: not a bad actually yeah um so um. Anyway, once 731 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,839 Speaker 1: Dr Sims because he figures is I think eighteen forty 732 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: nine is like when he kind of gets it right, 733 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,720 Speaker 1: although obviously the fact that he's he takes some thirty 734 00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:07,799 Speaker 1: times to get it right on another patient eighteen fifty five. 735 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: It's a messy process, right. But he releases his bombshell 736 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: report on how to fix Fishila in eighteen fifty two. 737 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,279 Speaker 1: He releases a follow up monograph in eighteen fifty three, 738 00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 1: and he becomes famous across the world. He moves to 739 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 1: New York City and he starts the very first hospital 740 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,799 Speaker 1: for women in the United States. UM, that is Dr 741 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: Sim's first women's hospital. Now this is really controversial at 742 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: the time, and he does Again a lot of people 743 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: think it's like gross to do medicine on women. UM, 744 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,360 Speaker 1: so like he has to, he does have to, he 745 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: does get I don't know what credit you want to 746 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:41,759 Speaker 1: give him, but it is like a thing he has 747 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,920 Speaker 1: to like fight to fund and operate this hospital and 748 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,760 Speaker 1: to like train doctors specifically and treated women's health issues. 749 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:51,440 Speaker 1: And that's a positive move. It's good that that happened. UM. 750 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:54,160 Speaker 1: During the Civil War, Simms, who described himself as a 751 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 1: loyal Southerner, moves to Europe, where he works on fish 752 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: sula patients across the continent and the Aisles. There is 753 00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,120 Speaker 1: some evidence that he acted as a government agent for 754 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,400 Speaker 1: the Confederacy while he was there, helping them seek loans 755 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,759 Speaker 1: and diplomatic recognition. Secretary of State Seward describes him as 756 00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:14,280 Speaker 1: a quote secessionist and sentiment and hostile to the government. 757 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:17,319 Speaker 1: It's very possible he was a Confederate spy while he 758 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: was in Europe. Um another reason to not root for 759 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,880 Speaker 1: this dude. Yep, yep. He really keeps making the decisions 760 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:28,279 Speaker 1: he keeps making. In eighteen sixty three, while the war 761 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,440 Speaker 1: is you know, going going around, it's kind of like 762 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 1: the height of shit. Um, he treats the Empress Eugenie 763 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,920 Speaker 1: of France for officila. This is like one of the 764 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: things he's most famous for is he fixes the because 765 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,000 Speaker 1: she's This is back when France has an empress. They 766 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:43,560 Speaker 1: don't for in like another seven or eight years because 767 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: they lose a war pretty bad. But at this point 768 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:49,480 Speaker 1: she's like one of the most famous women in the world. Right, Um, 769 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,720 Speaker 1: she has a fistula, he fixes it. This is controversial. 770 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,400 Speaker 1: There are claims that there's zero evidence whatsoever that he 771 00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 1: actually treated her for anything. UM, and people who will 772 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: argue that he was basically pretending to treat a medical 773 00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 1: issue in order to secretly due diplomacy with France on 774 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 1: behalf of the Confederacy. UM. Obviously, I I'm not competent 775 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,319 Speaker 1: to go into detail on that, but it is an 776 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,480 Speaker 1: argument people make. He was very likely doing some shady 777 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,319 Speaker 1: ship on the Confederacy's behalf while he's in Europe. UM. 778 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,320 Speaker 1: He remained a racist his entire career, as this section 779 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 1: from NPRS rite up makes clear. His racism had brutal 780 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 1: consequences for patients outside the almost gynecology to quote. Before 781 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:33,400 Speaker 1: and after his gynecological experiments, he also tested surgical treatments 782 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,240 Speaker 1: on enslaved black children in an effort to treat Christmas 783 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,760 Speaker 1: nascentium neo natal tetanus, with little to no success. Sims 784 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,640 Speaker 1: also believed that African Americans were less intelligent than white people, 785 00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:45,880 Speaker 1: and thought it was because their skulls grew too quickly 786 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,920 Speaker 1: around their brain. He would operate on African American children 787 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,920 Speaker 1: using a shoemaker's tool to pry their bones apart and 788 00:42:51,960 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: loosen their skulls. Oh my god, a dude who sucks here? Right? 789 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:04,680 Speaker 1: This Yeah, he's he's a pretty bad guy. Um. Dr 790 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:06,840 Speaker 1: Sims stayed in Europe for a while after the end 791 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,239 Speaker 1: of the Civil War. He returned in eighteen seventy one 792 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:12,160 Speaker 1: to work at the Women's Hospital, and eventually he establishes 793 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:15,239 Speaker 1: the first cancer institute in the United States, the New 794 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:19,719 Speaker 1: York Cancer Hospital. He was an unanimously elected president of 795 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:23,400 Speaker 1: the American Medical Association in eighteen seventy six. Um in 796 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:26,360 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy seven, he starts suffering in Giana attacks. He 797 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,440 Speaker 1: catches typhoid in eighteen eighty, which starts a rapid decline. 798 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: He makes his like he writes half of the autobiography 799 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: basically that we've cited today when he dies of a 800 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,640 Speaker 1: heart attack on November thirteenth, eighteen eighty three, in Manhattan. 801 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:41,880 Speaker 1: In recognition for his achievements, Jay Mary and Sims had 802 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,640 Speaker 1: several statues made in his honor, including one in Manhattan's 803 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,640 Speaker 1: Central Park. After years of controversy, it was removed in 804 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,319 Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen. I think a couple others were 805 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: moved in at least one. Um and yeah, that's uh, 806 00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:03,319 Speaker 1: that's that dude. I I mean, this is obviously he's 807 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,960 Speaker 1: this guy is a true bastard um, Yes, I think 808 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:10,040 Speaker 1: that's clear. But what but what is interesting that really 809 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,399 Speaker 1: important about this is that, I mean, there's echoes of 810 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: what happened because of him that still reverberate through today 811 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:22,000 Speaker 1: and cause us a lot of in the medical community, 812 00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,160 Speaker 1: a lot of I think would needs to be some 813 00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:27,680 Speaker 1: deep introspection and and some reckoning. I mean things like 814 00:44:27,719 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 1: this Henrietta lacks Tuskegee and they how could they not 815 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:37,520 Speaker 1: leave these real intense historical scars on the collective psyche 816 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,040 Speaker 1: of of this community. Who, by the way, I mean 817 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,200 Speaker 1: if you they'll, they'll you'll probably hear some of you 818 00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:45,960 Speaker 1: here reports. A lot of African Americans don't feel like 819 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: they're being listened to by the medical community. We talked 820 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,959 Speaker 1: about some of the studies that show they got less 821 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 1: pain from the pan Astia, really great name of that. 822 00:44:55,200 --> 00:45:00,239 Speaker 1: What's is procedural procedure, procedurals of the nation. What kind 823 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:01,920 Speaker 1: of the science to day was They had that two 824 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:04,839 Speaker 1: thousand sixteen article that was the show that they got 825 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:08,560 Speaker 1: less pain meds and that is still to this day. 826 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,680 Speaker 1: Like African American women, Indigenous women are two to three 827 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:14,960 Speaker 1: times more likely to die during childbirth I mean, this 828 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 1: is still stuff that we're dealing with. And because of this, 829 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,680 Speaker 1: understandably as a doctor, I run into a lot of 830 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,440 Speaker 1: i atrophobia, like people afraid of the heeling of the 831 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:28,440 Speaker 1: medical and what's what people are like, why would the 832 00:45:28,480 --> 00:45:31,280 Speaker 1: African American community not want to get the COVID vaccine? 833 00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:36,440 Speaker 1: You're like, fuck, look look at the history that we reasonable. 834 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:38,880 Speaker 1: It's this, it's this, like there's um. One of the 835 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: most fucked up things the CIA has done recently is 836 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,200 Speaker 1: they they had a fake vaccine drive in Pakistan where 837 00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,120 Speaker 1: they were really testing people's blood to see if they 838 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,560 Speaker 1: could find people related to Osama bin Laden to track 839 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,040 Speaker 1: them down, and like, weren't vaccinating people And it was 840 00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:56,160 Speaker 1: just like, yeah, of course there's distrust of Western vaccine 841 00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:00,879 Speaker 1: programs the c I A thank you, um wow. Well, 842 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,160 Speaker 1: and it's and also like you bring up Indigenous women. 843 00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:05,200 Speaker 1: There were we're not talking about this today, so I 844 00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:06,759 Speaker 1: don't want to go into too much detail because I 845 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:08,560 Speaker 1: don't want to get something wrong, but like, there were 846 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,280 Speaker 1: a lot of vaccine trials done with real questionable consent 847 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,319 Speaker 1: on indigenous populations in the United States. You know, yeah, 848 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,720 Speaker 1: I know you did a good did a really good Um. 849 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:20,200 Speaker 1: I forget which where you did? I think was on 850 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,160 Speaker 1: this show you talked about, you know, the history of vaccines, 851 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,960 Speaker 1: and there's some problematic components. Yeah, like like like with 852 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:32,680 Speaker 1: everything right, like like with voting you know. Um yeah, Um, 853 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:34,560 Speaker 1: it's not a factor. It's not a it's not an 854 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:38,040 Speaker 1: inherent characteristics of vaccines. It's an inherent characteristic of like 855 00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 1: the white supremacist state that has existed for a couple 856 00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: of hundred years. Um. Yeah, which kind of colors everything. 857 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,000 Speaker 1: There's a there's a really good nineteen forty one paper 858 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: titled the Negroes Contribution to Surgery published in the Journal 859 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: of the National Medical Association by Dr John A. Kenney 860 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,520 Speaker 1: of the Tuskegee Institute, UM, who was like a groundbreaking 861 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,799 Speaker 1: black dermatologist. Um. And he kind of he writes in 862 00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:05,480 Speaker 1: that paper, I suggest that a monument be raised and 863 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,319 Speaker 1: dedicated to the nameless Negroes who have contributed so much 864 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,680 Speaker 1: to surgery by the guinea pig route. UM. I found 865 00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:15,520 Speaker 1: this in an article about them removing a statue of Sims. UM. 866 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:17,480 Speaker 1: And I don't know, I'm not much of a statue 867 00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:19,640 Speaker 1: guy one way or the other, but certainly that's a 868 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:23,120 Speaker 1: better idea for a statue than one to this guy. Absolutely, 869 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:25,880 Speaker 1: as I mean, people also need to remember this is 870 00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,600 Speaker 1: I mean, we think this is like ages and ages ago. 871 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:34,239 Speaker 1: The Tuskegee experiment ended in like one of these days, yeah, 872 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,120 Speaker 1: ninety two. Like I had attendings teaching me that were 873 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,360 Speaker 1: alive and practicing medicine at that time. So it's like 874 00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:44,840 Speaker 1: not that long ago that this was a thing that 875 00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:48,840 Speaker 1: was happening. Yep, yep. And like I mean, a bunch 876 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:51,400 Speaker 1: of the I mean, presumably one hopes at least that 877 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:53,719 Speaker 1: a number of the women that he was experimenting on 878 00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,160 Speaker 1: probably lived into the twentieth century or the nineteenth century. 879 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:01,000 Speaker 1: Twent century, Yeah, the century are always hard because it's 880 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,279 Speaker 1: one less than the number. You know, it doesn't you 881 00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:08,319 Speaker 1: know how counting works? Yeah? Um, I don't know. I 882 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:13,560 Speaker 1: think he probably shouldn't enslaved people, and you also shouldn't 883 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:17,080 Speaker 1: conduct medical experiments on them. Um. That's my that's my 884 00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:21,759 Speaker 1: radical left wing rant for the day. Um. I don't 885 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:28,799 Speaker 1: want to get political here, Okay, okay, um, but yeah, 886 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:32,080 Speaker 1: probably bad, probably bad, But I don't know. It's I 887 00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:34,279 Speaker 1: think it's worth really digging into because we could have done. 888 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:36,680 Speaker 1: I kind of considered doing like a much broader episode 889 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,719 Speaker 1: where this guy would be a chunk, and then we 890 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,920 Speaker 1: talked Henrietta Lacks and Tuskegee. But there's so much to 891 00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:45,920 Speaker 1: say about how this is conducted, about how other doctors 892 00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,759 Speaker 1: who are who are not experimenting on enslaved people do 893 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,719 Speaker 1: things differently, about how this guy is like received, how 894 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,359 Speaker 1: he justifies it, how he's what he just I really think, 895 00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:57,319 Speaker 1: and I think we'll probably wind up focusing on each 896 00:48:57,320 --> 00:48:59,800 Speaker 1: of those other those other I don't know what to 897 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:03,520 Speaker 1: all them, like pieces of medical history, like in in detail, 898 00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:05,600 Speaker 1: because I think it is worthwhile. There's always a lot 899 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,720 Speaker 1: to like drill down here about how it was justified 900 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,359 Speaker 1: at the time, how it's been justified since the how 901 00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:14,480 Speaker 1: the language that people uses around this kind of stuff 902 00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,879 Speaker 1: acts to sort of hide the horror um even by 903 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,799 Speaker 1: doing things that are like you, you claim to be 904 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,319 Speaker 1: advocating for the patient, but what you're really doing is 905 00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:27,719 Speaker 1: kind of like making suffering porn about this person in 906 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,640 Speaker 1: order to like say that basically anything I do is justified, 907 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:34,360 Speaker 1: which seems bad to me. Have we started the hashtag 908 00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:39,160 Speaker 1: a dab all doctors are bastards? The doctors are the cops. 909 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:42,759 Speaker 1: Um No, I mean, actually this is so important that 910 00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:45,880 Speaker 1: we talked. I mean it aually timely now because we 911 00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,440 Speaker 1: have to. We're talking about autonomy in people's rights. Jesus Christ. 912 00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,000 Speaker 1: It's like a basic medical ethic that we still do 913 00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:55,759 Speaker 1: not have in this country. And it seems to be 914 00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:59,120 Speaker 1: going backwards. Yeah. And it's the same I mean, there's 915 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:02,120 Speaker 1: a there's a huge degree to which like it's the 916 00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:04,400 Speaker 1: same thing with journalism, right. We can talk about the 917 00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:07,279 Speaker 1: history of white supremacy and journalism. How journalism was used 918 00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:09,799 Speaker 1: to like whip up fear of slave how probably a 919 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,520 Speaker 1: decent chunk of Dr Simms, terror of like runaway slaves 920 00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:16,680 Speaker 1: was stoked by articles in the local press about like 921 00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:20,120 Speaker 1: horrible things done by runaway slaves and whatever town or whatever. 922 00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: Um and then ship like you know, the Spanish American War, 923 00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:25,680 Speaker 1: the kind of yellow press and how you know, and 924 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,000 Speaker 1: the Iraq War and the ways in which you know, 925 00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:31,720 Speaker 1: today a lot of idiots in legacy media are writing 926 00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:34,360 Speaker 1: these like are to well, we have to experseamine, you know. 927 00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:37,600 Speaker 1: Really there's a lot more problems with conversion, with with 928 00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:40,439 Speaker 1: gender transition and stuff than like and we should and 929 00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:42,600 Speaker 1: and doing this writing this stuff in a way that 930 00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:46,080 Speaker 1: like plays into this right wing outrage machine and being like, well, 931 00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:49,160 Speaker 1: we're not writing things that are meant to do that. 932 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:51,360 Speaker 1: It's just other people taking us out of context. And 933 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:53,480 Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, but if you're putting shit out, if 934 00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:55,920 Speaker 1: you if you don't think about the ethics of what 935 00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:59,000 Speaker 1: you're doing, if you like you're you're like in the 936 00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,839 Speaker 1: actual impact of what you're doing, it's the same. It's 937 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:04,399 Speaker 1: the same thing. We have these these things that are 938 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:08,400 Speaker 1: really important as institutions medicine and in the media and 939 00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:11,080 Speaker 1: and all of this stuff that is are critical for 940 00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:15,000 Speaker 1: having a society, and a lot of people within them 941 00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:19,600 Speaker 1: who don't like some of the some of the really 942 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,839 Speaker 1: thorny ethical questions that are necessary when you look at 943 00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,799 Speaker 1: the history of these institutions, Like guys like I think 944 00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:31,040 Speaker 1: Wall who want to just celebrate what is legitimately groundbreaking medicine, right, 945 00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,440 Speaker 1: and SIMS was groundbreaking, and a lot of his application 946 00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:36,400 Speaker 1: of medicine um, and he wants to Wall wants to 947 00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:38,919 Speaker 1: celebrate that, and he doesn't want to really like, look 948 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:42,640 Speaker 1: at what's super fucked up about this guy Um, And 949 00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:44,160 Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of people who do that 950 00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:46,480 Speaker 1: for a bunch of things. It's this, it's this constant 951 00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:50,120 Speaker 1: problem we have of like and I think wall is. 952 00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:52,280 Speaker 1: I don't think doing wall is doing the effortful version. 953 00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:53,920 Speaker 1: The low effort version is to say, like, oh, you 954 00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:56,680 Speaker 1: just want to ignore, like you just want to cancel history. Right. 955 00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:59,000 Speaker 1: It was like, no, I'm telling you the history of 956 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,120 Speaker 1: Mary and Sims. I think it's important to talk about 957 00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:03,480 Speaker 1: the history of Marion Sims. I wish, like hell, we 958 00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:07,880 Speaker 1: knew more about the history of of Betsy Um of Anarca, 959 00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:10,920 Speaker 1: of Lucy, of like these and then women he does 960 00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:13,439 Speaker 1: not name who he experimented upon because they are also 961 00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: critical parts of medical history. Yeah, no, exactly, it's the opposite. 962 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:20,040 Speaker 1: You don't you want the history to be known. It's 963 00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:24,120 Speaker 1: just there's certain things that should not be celebrated. Yeah, yeah, 964 00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:25,719 Speaker 1: I don't. We we don't need to make him into 965 00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:27,840 Speaker 1: a hero to discuss what he did, because what he 966 00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:30,640 Speaker 1: did is important. Yeah. Yeah, this is an ongoing story 967 00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:32,920 Speaker 1: in medicine. There's like when I was in training, we 968 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:37,799 Speaker 1: started moving away from eponyms because ostensibly because we want 969 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:39,319 Speaker 1: to focus on the science of it and not the 970 00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,759 Speaker 1: name of the person, but because so often in medicine 971 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,040 Speaker 1: you run across someone like Wagner. Then Wagner's gran granulumatosis. 972 00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:50,239 Speaker 1: Sorry killed that word and I should know it better. 973 00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:54,760 Speaker 1: But anyways, Wagner's disease because he was a Nazi, you know, 974 00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:58,880 Speaker 1: and and things were, and he was an important pathologist 975 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,839 Speaker 1: in many ways. You know, we need to be able 976 00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,600 Speaker 1: to separate what he did and talk about it and 977 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,759 Speaker 1: make sure it's known because it's an important part of 978 00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:10,799 Speaker 1: making sure we don't move backwards. And guess what if 979 00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:12,839 Speaker 1: we don't focus on that, we move backwards, and we're 980 00:53:12,840 --> 00:53:17,319 Speaker 1: moving backwards right now. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's we'll 981 00:53:17,320 --> 00:53:19,480 Speaker 1: probably wind. I'm we're definitely gonna be talking about Hans 982 00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:22,640 Speaker 1: Asberger too at some point, which is another another Nazi 983 00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,960 Speaker 1: you know, Um, But yeah, Nazis and Confederates. Um, this 984 00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:32,440 Speaker 1: is the kind of Confederate history I'm interested in telling. Um. Alright, Kada, 985 00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:36,120 Speaker 1: you I do, I certainly do. You can follow me 986 00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:39,200 Speaker 1: at the House of Pod on Twitter, and you can 987 00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:42,799 Speaker 1: listen to my humor adjacent medical podcast, the House of 988 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:46,279 Speaker 1: Pod anywhere you listen to podcasts. If you want to 989 00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:49,200 Speaker 1: do something a little different, you can listen to my 990 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:54,080 Speaker 1: recap fun show I do with Rebecca Watson, who is amazing, 991 00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:56,040 Speaker 1: and how the recommend you you check her out in 992 00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,479 Speaker 1: her YouTube videos and that we do a show called 993 00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:02,960 Speaker 1: Girls on Boys. It is a fun deep dive about 994 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,840 Speaker 1: the show the boys in it, and I'll explain in 995 00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:09,120 Speaker 1: it why I hate Alfred Molina with a burning passion 996 00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:13,240 Speaker 1: of a thousand wounds. Wow, yeah, I gotta thing, Sophie, 997 00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:18,920 Speaker 1: Sophie Ye, Jamie Loftus on the loftist set off the 998 00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:22,600 Speaker 1: loftist signal. Jamie Loftus fucking loves Alfred Milina. You are 999 00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:26,200 Speaker 1: now her short enemy I hate. Listen, we'll talk about 1000 00:54:26,239 --> 00:54:31,040 Speaker 1: not without my daughter anytime. Wow. Wow, we've got we 1001 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:37,480 Speaker 1: have the makings of a podcast few cast. She's literally 1002 00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:41,120 Speaker 1: texting me right now and I'm You're safety. I will 1003 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:46,239 Speaker 1: not throwing a few down. This is this could be 1004 00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:50,719 Speaker 1: the rumble in I don't know, like I'm literally six, 1005 00:54:51,520 --> 00:54:56,160 Speaker 1: this is happening. Yeah, yeah, we're spilling some mad tea. 1006 00:54:57,160 --> 00:55:01,080 Speaker 1: This is going to be an even bigger, an even 1007 00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,680 Speaker 1: bigger thing than my feud with Isn't there someone named 1008 00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:09,040 Speaker 1: Ezra at NPR? Yeah, Ezra Miller, I think that fucker. Yeah, 1009 00:55:09,680 --> 00:55:12,560 Speaker 1: you Ezra Miller. Yeah, I'm gonna suck him up. Or 1010 00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,840 Speaker 1: the Ezra who does the show Yeah? Oh wait, is 1011 00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:17,680 Speaker 1: there an Ezra who does the show Flash? But he's 1012 00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 1: I mean that guy sounds like he sucks, but as reclined. 1013 00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,400 Speaker 1: That's the NPR game. I'm gonna suck you up as reclined. 1014 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:31,880 Speaker 1: Yeah that one. Yeah, bro, let's mess up Ezra. Yeah. 1015 00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:34,640 Speaker 1: Or you're not going to tell people to get colonoscopy 1016 00:55:34,719 --> 00:55:37,280 Speaker 1: because that's normally what you. Yeah, get your colon cancer screening. 1017 00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:39,759 Speaker 1: If it's appropriate for you, talk to your you need 1018 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,399 Speaker 1: to do that. Okay, Okay, that's fair. Yeah, I'm not gonna. 1019 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:45,600 Speaker 1: I mean, there's like it's like there's like so many 1020 00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:47,279 Speaker 1: like different things to talk about when it comes to 1021 00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:50,880 Speaker 1: colonoscopies and colon cancer screening, different versions of colon cancer screening. 1022 00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:54,000 Speaker 1: When you should start, what your risks are? Um, well, 1023 00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:56,120 Speaker 1: so let me let me let me run this through. 1024 00:55:56,160 --> 00:55:58,040 Speaker 1: Because I had I had a I had a I 1025 00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:00,360 Speaker 1: had a I had a lady at a at a 1026 00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:03,160 Speaker 1: at a yurt tell me that coffee enemas make that 1027 00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:05,839 Speaker 1: it impossible to get that cancer. And so I did 1028 00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:07,400 Speaker 1: that for a couple of years. And then I figured 1029 00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:10,880 Speaker 1: coffee enemas if they make it, if they'll stop me 1030 00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,000 Speaker 1: from getting colon cancer, you know, it'll do an even 1031 00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:15,960 Speaker 1: better job as Red Bull. So I've been doing that 1032 00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,480 Speaker 1: for like the last five years every day. Uh listen, 1033 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:24,040 Speaker 1: this is important. Coffee is your friend. It is not 1034 00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:28,880 Speaker 1: a nanima. It is amazing. I love coffee. I did 1035 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:31,160 Speaker 1: a whole episode with prop By the way, we had 1036 00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:33,960 Speaker 1: Deepak Choper's brother, who's a coffee efficient auto come on 1037 00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:37,280 Speaker 1: and one of and one of the greatest, like living 1038 00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:40,720 Speaker 1: American hypotologists, had them on all to talk about coffee. Great. 1039 00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:43,120 Speaker 1: Just don't put it. Don't put it in your butt. 1040 00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:47,280 Speaker 1: It will cause damage. At worst, cause you significant damage. 1041 00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:50,680 Speaker 1: At best, it will ruin your coffee and your butt. Okay, 1042 00:56:50,719 --> 00:56:53,439 Speaker 1: but I have, as I said, moved on to Red Bull. 1043 00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:55,839 Speaker 1: So that's oh yeah, that's right because the torain helps, right, 1044 00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:59,479 Speaker 1: that makes it clean. Yeah, it's the chemicals that clean 1045 00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,399 Speaker 1: out the up in there. Yeah, it's like putting bleach 1046 00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:04,600 Speaker 1: in there. A lot of people don't get enough touring 1047 00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:08,360 Speaker 1: in their assholes. Um, no American with not with this 1048 00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:15,279 Speaker 1: American diet. Alright, everybody that's gonna do it for us 1049 00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:19,600 Speaker 1: here behind the bastards um at this point, probably donate 1050 00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:21,160 Speaker 1: to a bail fund. I don't know what's going to 1051 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:24,680 Speaker 1: happen in the next week or so, after the whole um, 1052 00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:28,480 Speaker 1: after the road decision, but yeah, probably probably did to 1053 00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:33,800 Speaker 1: go donate to a bail fund by