The Nation - News from July 2, 1987

Doctors protesting the nation’s highest malpractice insurance rates curtailed emergency services in South Florida and threatened to quit treating patients to mark what they called “Disaster Day.” The state’s largest malpractice insurer boosted its premiums by up to 42.7% and the second largest stopped renewing policies altogether. Hardest hit by the boycott was Broward County, where the number of emergency rooms accepting trauma patients with head and spinal cord injuries shrank from 16 to four, said Ralph Marrinson, chairman of the county’s emergency management resources committee.