I have twenty minutes to discuss the implications of the Schiavo case!1 I think it’s fair to say that in taking this case, when Mr. Schiavo walked into my office eight years ago, I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea that I’d now be standing up here while the case was still pending, talking about it.
I don’t want to talk too much about the specific details of the Schiavo case. Instead, I’ll focus on its broader trends and implications. My entry into the Schiavo case was through the Browning case, which many of you may be familiar with, which is Florida’s landmark right-to-die or right-to-refuse-unwanted-medical-treatment case, a case that I argued before the Florida Supreme Court in the late 1980s.