Oscar Rotter (born 21 July, 1865), also with the German spelling Oskar Rotter, was a German-born New York

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and proponent of

free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the State (polity), state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues we ...

and

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

. Rotter's books included ''The Sexes and Love in Freedom'' and ''Jealousy, the Foe of Freedom'', and he published articles on free love, rebutting the views of

Lucy Parsons Lucy E. Parsons ( – March 7, 1942) was a US social anarchist and later anarcho-communist, well-known throughout her long life for her fiery speeches and writings. She was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World. There are d ...

. Rotter was also a driving force in the medico-economic movement, an early effort to address the economic pressures on the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry.

Life and career

Rotter was born in Landeck,

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, Germany. He was educated at the Royal St. Matthias Gymnasium in Breslau. After immigrating to the United States, he graduated from New York University Medical College in 1891 and earned a

doctor of medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

degree. He was secretary of the Federation of the Medical Economic Leagues; chairman of the committee on Economic Research in Yorkville Medical Society; associate editor of ''The Medical Economist''; and local medical examiner for the

Tribe of Ben-Hur The Tribe of Ben-Hur was a fraternal organization based on the novel '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'' by Lew Wallace. In 1930 it became the Ben-Hur Life Association. History The idea of starting a fraternal organization based on ''Ben-Hur'' ...

. His memberships in professional organizations included the Yorkville Medical Society, Yorkville Physicians Economic League, Association for Culture and the Sunrise Club. Rotter was also named honorary member of the New York County Pharmaceutical Society. He is probably the Oscar Rotter who was executive surgeon for the East Side Clinic for Children, 325 E. 84th Street in New York.

Writings

* "The Economic Problem as It Affects the Medical Profession" was a paper Rotter presented at a meeting of the New York County Pharmaceutical Society in 1912. Rotter outlined and distinguished the rights of physicians and pharmacists as they related to each other. During the discussion that followed, one participant maintained that "druggists should not give customers information what ailments the prescriptions are for when so asked."''Practical Druggist and Pharmaceutical Review'', p. 52. The paper was also published in ''The Medico-Pharmaceutical Critic and Guide'' (January 1912), pp. 22–2
online.
* ''An Attempt to Cope with the Economic Problem within the Practice of Medicine'' * "Some Remarks on the Medico-Economic Movement" * "The Medico-Economic Movement: Its Recent Organization and Activity," ''American Medicine'' 19 (1913) 316–31
online.
* "The Medico-Economic Movement in Greater New York," ''Southern California Practitioner'' 29 (1914), p. 6
online.
* "Causes, History and Achievement of the Medico-Economic Movement" * "The Mutual Economic Relationship between Physician and Pharmacist," ''The Practical Druggist'' (March 1912), pp. 56, 58, full tex
online.
* "Means of Preventing Conception," ''Medical World'' 15 (1897), pp. 151–15
online.
* ''The Sexes and Love in Freedom'' * ''Jealousy, the Foe of Freedom''

References

Unless otherwise noted, information on Rotter's life from ''One Thousand American Men of Mark of To-day'' (Chicago, 1916), pp. 371–37
online
and ''General Alumni Catalogue of New York University 1833–1907'', p. 45
online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotter, Oscar Free love advocates Physicians from New York City 1865 births Year of death missing Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States