Mary Dixon Jones

Mary Amanda Dixon Jones (February 17, 1828 – 1908) was an American physician and surgeon in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, who was the first American physician to propose and perform a total hysterectomy to treat a tumor in the uterine muscle (myoma). Jones had a successful career until her work doing gynecological surgery at Woman's Hospital of Brooklyn drew the attention of the news media, and she was the subject of a 24-article investigative expose by the Brooklyn Eagle. As a result, she was charged with one count of murder, and one count of manslaughter. She was found not guilty, and sued the Eagle. She lost the libel case, and was forced to close her medical practice. Jones then spent the last years of her medical career researching the tissue pathology of gynecological conditions. She was the daughter of Noah Dixon and Sally Turner Dixon. Noah and Sally had been married for 21 years before Mary's birth, allowing her to have many other siblings. As an individual who was advocating for the field of gynecology in its early years, Jones had to oppose the norm to find methods of finding opportunities of apprenticeship or other ways to be part of surgery as the field of surgery was often seen as a male dominated field. They also implied that she improperly handled the hospital's finances. and eight malpractices suits that made their way through the courts. The case gained popular attention with spectators filling the courtroom day after day, possibly because for the first time, jars full of specimens and surgical mannequins became common sights in the courtrooms. Her attorneys once more brought in expert witnesses who testified to her skill and reputation as a physician. When Mary Dixon Jones took the stand, her own testimony worked against her. Based on her interactions with the judge, the all-male jury perceived her as un-motherly and not the caring doctor that her lawyers had suggested. Her confident attitude was noted as "especially heinous" because she was a woman physician. The Eagle's lawyer said that she had "unsexed" herself by demanding to be addressed as "Doctor", instead of "Mrs.". During his closing brief, he pronounced her as "an old woman" with an "uplifted knife", and even hinted at witchery. After 37 hours of deliberation, the jury found the Eagle innocent of libeling her in 1892 and Jones lost the suit. When she lost the case her hospital's charter was revoked and she was forced to close it for good. She relocated her practice to New York City and continued her medical work publishing on gynecological pathology. Mary Dixon Jones trial is the longest libel suit tried in the United States to date. Additionally, The Brooklyn Citizen, The Brooklyn Times, The New York Times, and the New York World continued to highlight her story after the case was over. The Brooklyn Medical Journal claimed that the event involved the "honor and reputation" of their medical establishment, and the Journal of The American Medical Association even commented on the verdict. Tensions around the press got so high that a month after Jones lost the libel suit, her son Charles broke into the home of Dr. Joseph H. Raymond, the former Brooklyn Health Commissioner and editor of the Brooklyn Medical Journal. Charles dragged the older man from his bed and horsewhipped him when he refused to retract a negative additional that had just been published by the Journal. The affair was eventually settled over an apology, but the incident highlights the intense role the press had within the case.

Publications or other works During her time as a physician, Mary Dixon Jones wrote and published many medical articles and was an associate editor for many well known medical journals such as the American Journal of Surgery and Gynecology and the Woman's Medical Journal, and the Philadelphia Times and Register. She published over fifty of these medical articles for others to read and study about this subject matter related to her field of work. Mary Dixon Jones was also a member of the New York Pathological Society and was well known for her work at home and abroad.

Later career, death, and legacy After Jones lost the libel case, she was forced to close her medical practice, give up performing surgeries, and move back to New York. At the age of 64, she decided to continue her work by researching the tissue pathology of diseases of the women's reproductive system and conducting other microscopical studies. During this time she worked to study and further understand many of the diseases that she had actually treated and observed during her time as a physician. She was one of the only surgeons specialized in gynecology that placed a high importance on studying the pathology of these diseases in a laboratory setting and was even a member of the New York Pathological Society. Dr. Mary Dixon Jones died in 1908 at the age of 80 in New York City, leaving a lasting legacy in the world of medicine, and not just in her specific field of Obstetrics and Gynecology. From performing the first full hysterectomy in 1888 to being one of the most successful physicians practicing at the time, she succeed and persevered despite the many challenges she faced during her career, including her very public legal trial, and the disadvantages she faced for being a woman physician during this period.