Rothman traced the first modern prisons' (1820s–1850s) roots to the post-Revolution social turmoil and reformers' desire for perfectly ordered spaces.

Medical Communication Companies and Industry Grants was published in 2013 and Political Polarization of Physicians in the United States: An Analysis of Campaign Contributions to Federal Elections, 1991 Through 2012 in 2014.

[citation needed] Together with the Open Society Foundations, Rothman convened a task force to address physician involvement in detention, interrogation, and torture.

A resulting report entitled Ethics Abandoned: Medical Professionalism and Detainee Abuse in the War on Terror was published in November 2013.

[citation needed] Rothman lived in New York City with his wife, with whom he frequently co-authored publications.