The statue will eventually be erected again in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, where Sims is buried.

The Design Commission took up the issue at its monthly meeting at City Hall.

Jonathan Kuhn, the director of Art and Antiquities of the Parks Department, gave a presentation of the history of the statue, which was first erected in Bryant Park in the 1890s, taken down when Bryant Park was dug up during subway construction in the 1920s, and installed at its current location in 1934, across from the New York Academy of Medicine.

Sims was considered a pioneer in the field of gynecology. But there has been a reassessment of his career because of his exploitation of female slaves, who he operated on without anesthesia.

In Central Park, the Sims statue, made of bronze, stands on an imposing granite base. In the cemetery, it will rest on a low pedestal, according to a rendering shown by Mr. Kuhn. It will be accompanied by signage explaining the history of the statue and Sims.