Nationality American | Spouse George B. Morton Jr. | |
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Born October 28, 1876
Lynchburg, Virginia ( 1876-10-28 ) Known for Co-founder of the American Women's Hospitals Service and chairperson of the Public Health Education Committee Died 5 May 1968, Winter Park, Florida, United States Alma mater Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Books A Doctor's Holiday in Iran | ||
Rosalie Slaughter Morton, M.D. (October 28, 1876 – May 5, 1968), born Rosalie Slaughter, was an American physician and surgeon. In addition to running her own medical practices, she co-founded the American Women's Hospitals Service, worked as a medic during the First World War, and was the first chairperson of the Public Health Education Committee. Morton was one of the first female members of faculty at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York, and the first at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
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Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Morton studied at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania despite her family's expectation that she would only aim to find a husband who could provide for her. She went on to further study and research across Europe and Asia before returning to the United States to open her own medical practices.
Morton received a number of awards during her career, including the Joan of Arc medal, and a park in Belgrade is named in her honor. In 1937 she published an autobiography - A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton - to positive reception, and in 1940 released a second book titled A Doctor's Holiday in Iran.
Early life
Rosalie Slaughter was born in 1876 in Lynchburg, Virginia to Mary Harker and John Favel Slaughter. She had five brothers and one sister (three other siblings died in childhood), and was educated in Lynchburg before travelling to a finishing school in Baltimore. From here she chose to follow in the steps of her grandfather and two older brothers by becoming a doctor, joining the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1893. In her autobiography Morton remarked that her upbringing and education had "been designed... to make me a capable wife—not to imbue me with a desire for a career," noting that her father had left her no money – expecting her to find a husband who could provide for her – and that many in her family did not want her to pursue a career in medicine.
Later life
Slaughter married George B. Morton Jr., an attorney who had previously studied medicine, in 1905 at St. Paul's Church, Lynchburg. In 1910 it was reported that she was filing for divorce, and he died in 1912 of an aneurism. After her husband's death Morton was overcome with sadness; she later wrote "If my parents had been living, if we had had children, if there had been domestic duties, I would have found palliative comfort in them; but with [my husband's] going my domestic life was ... absolutely demolished”.
In the early 1930s Morton suffered a bout of pneumonia, prompting her to move to Winter Park, Florida, where she died in 1968.Career
After graduating from college in Pennsylvania with two of the three honors available to her, Morton was appointed as resident physician at the Alumnae Hospital and Dispensary, where she worked until 1899. She then began further studies in Europe, travelling to Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and London. During this time Morton took courses, observed surgeries, and wrote a number of scientific papers including several comparing the health of women and men. Following the advice of her instructor in London, Victor Horsley, she then travelled to the British Government Laboratory in Mumbai for six months to work on prophylactics against the bubonic plague as well as a period in Sri Lanka.
Having finished her studies, Morton returned to the United States in 1902 and opened a medical practice specialising in gynecology in Washington D.C. After marrying George Morton Jr., she opened a new medical practice in New York, where he was an attorney. In 1909 the American Medical Association created a Public Health Education Committee with the aim of educating the public on subjects including health, hygiene, child care, and other medical topics; they made Morton its first chairperson. Morton was appointed as a clinical assistant and instructor at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York (where she was one of the first female faculty members), and later became a professor of gynecology. During this time she lectured at a number of other universities including a summer at the University of Vermont.
After the breakout of the First World War, Morton travelled to Labrador to work in the Mission Hospitals there, before being made a special commissioner of the Red Cross to take supplies from Paris to the Macedonian Front and work at the field hospitals in Macedonia. Following the success of her male family members, Morton was the first women to become the Attending Surgeon at the Vanderbilt Clinic of Columbia University's Physicians and Surgeons in 1916. After returning to New York Morton, alongside Mary M. Crawford, led the American Women's Hospitals Service from 1917 after it was founded by the Medical Women's National Association with the aim of establishing American hospitals in Europe. After her request to send one thousand medical women who had volunteered for foreign service was opposed by the General Medical Board in Washington, she raised over $300,000 in 10 days through a national fundraising drive to send them. At the recommendation of William C. Gorgas, Morton was made chairman of the committee of women physicians on the United States Council of National Defense, where she represented over 7000 female doctors.
Morton continued running her New York practice while attempting to aid young people in Yugoslavia and Serbia who had been disrupted during the war into education. In March 1919 she established the international Serbian Committee, through which she facilitated the placing of dozens of young Serbian people in American places of education.
After moving to Florida in the early 1930s Morton established a small clinical practice where she carried out research into arthritis and endocrinology.
Awards
When Morton graduated in 1897, she had won multiple awards, including for best invention for surgical equipment and the best clinical case report. By 1937 Morton had been awarded 9 decorations by home and foreign Governments. During her career Morton's awards included the Cross of Czar Nicholas II, the Joan of Arc medal, and the Conspicuous Service Cross, and in 1934 she was presented a special award by the American Medical Association for her work establishing the American Women's Hospitals. A tree was planted in Central Park in her honor, commemorating her "distinguished patriotic service", and both a street and park in Belgrade are named after her.
Books
Morton wrote an autobiography titled A Woman Surgeon: The Life and Work of Rosalie Slaughter Morton which was published in 1937 by Frederick A. Stokes. The book was reviewed well, with praise given to both the writing and the breadth of experiences chronicled in it.
Writing for The Pittsburgh Press, Harry Hansen described Morton's autobiography as an "excellent book on a woman's accomplishments" commending both the descriptions of medical topics as well as political ones. In The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, George Currie wrote that "at no time is her book boring", calling it an important book for documenting the contributions of "a woman crusader". The Salt Lake Tribune described the book as "informative, thrilling and colorful", and The Sydney Morning Herald called it "particularly interesting". In their review, the Indiana Gazette rated the book as one of the best medical autobiographies of recent times.
After finishing her autobiography, Morton travelled to Iran, and in 1940 published a book on the country and her time there titled A Doctor's Holiday in Iran.