A look at Florida's malpractice crisis

To solve the malpractice problem, the Florida Medical Association has attempted during the last decade to bring about tort reform through the legislative process, but early successes were declared unconstitutional or ignored by the courts. In 1984, the FMA organized a constitutional initiative campaign called REASON '84, and secured a record 630,000 signatures of registered Florida voters to place a constitutional amendment on the 1984 Florida General Election ballot. The Florida Supreme Court in October 1984 removed the Association's constitutional Amendment 9 from the ballot. Dr. Coleman, past president of the Florida Medical Association, wrote the following during his term as president about the malpractice problem and its grave implications.