Marion Sims was the surgeon responsible for being the first treating a vesicovaginal fistula –a condition linked to many caused mainly by prolonged pressing of the feotus against the pelvis or other causes such as rape, hysterectomy, or other operations– and also having been doctor to many European royals and the 20th President of the United States James A. Garfield after he had been shot.Sims does have a controversial medical past.