An individual does not actually have a “right to die” (see Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health, 110 S.Ct. 2841 (1990). Anyone who helps the individual do so may be accused of assisted suicide. Yet an individual, while competent, does have a right to refuse medical treatment, even if it will lead to death. See F.S. 765.309. The living Will protects and expresses that right.
The right to have a nasogastric tube removed is a constitutionally protected right that exists under the circumstances of the instant case in conformity with the safeguards as discussed and established in Satz v. Perlmutter, 379 So.2d 359 (Fla. 1980),
In John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital Inc. v. Bludworth, 452 So.2d 921 (Fla. 1984) the Court held that an incompetent person has the same right to refuse medical treatment as a competent person.
The constitutional right to refuse medical treatment was established in Florida in In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So.2d 4 (Fla. 1990). The court held that Article I, §23 of the Florida Constitution, which establishes an individual's right of privacy, gives a competent person the right to dictate the terms of his or her future medical care. See also Bush v. Schiavo, 885 So.2d 321 (Fla. 2004).
