Good thing quarantined tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker is a lawyer because if he gets better, he'll be spending the next few years in court defending his recent actions.

The 31-year-old personal injury attorney, the first person held by the government because of worries they might spread a disease, in 40 years, started making his case in the court of public opinion today to ABC's Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

"I don't expect for people to ever forgive me. I just hope that they understand that I truly never meant to put them in harm," he said, apologizing to the people on his planes whom he might have exposed.

Speaker should feel guilty. He certainly didn't think too much about other people when he flew back from Europe, knowing he had an especially drug-resistant form of the disease. He claimed that he was heading back to the U.S. so he could seek treatment at the Denver clinic where is now detained.

It isn't clear whether Speaker actually broke any laws since he wasn't specifically ordered not to travel, according to a CDC official interviewed by the Associated Press. I'm not a lawyer, so I am not sure whether or not Speaker may face criminal charges though it seems likely that he will face civil lawsuits for his actions. To further complicate matters, his father-in-law is a TB researcher at the CDC, though both men say his exposure isn't related to this research.

Thank goodness neither his wife nor his new step-daughter have tested postiive for TB and that doctors think Speaker has a chance to beat the disease since he's young and otherwise healthy. The toughest battle he will face in the coming years is going to be living with himself and his notoriety.

Whenever a parent wants to teach a child about why they should do the right thing, they need look no further than the saga of Andrew Speaker.