Sex-Change Operation for Killer?

You don't have to convince me that GID is valid. I understand that this is a real mental disorder and I can actually feel quite sorry for an individual who is suffering because of their anguish in being in the wrong body.

This is not a free person. This is a person who is under lock and key in a prison in my State. This is a person who expects and now demands (by court) that I and every other taxpayer give him the funds to pay for his transformation.

If I were a transsexual, walking free in the city of Boston, and suffering unimaginable pain and grief at not being of the opposite sex, if I attempted to commit suicide again and again, slashed at my 'wrong' body parts, or otherwise suffered greatly, ..... is the State of Massachusetts responsible for this? I think not. It may be a wonderfully humane thing to do but it should not be the responsibility of the State or anyone else to provide.

I am unlikely to put my hand in my pocket and pay for an operation for a transsexual that I am BEST FRIENDS with, let alone a complete stranger, and a stranger who is a murder, who is incarcerated and supposed to be punished for his crime.

If that is cruel and unusual punishment then I guess I am cruel but not that unusual.

Like I said, the legal fight is going to cost as much or more than the operation anyway.

Let's put it to you this way. If you say it shouldn't be paid for what objective reasons can be used to deny it?

Responsibility of self.

I am a firm believer that people should take responsibility for their own lives. I do not agree with the hand-out-society.

I realize that this is just how I feel and arguments can be had for and against. I am not the smartest kid on the block and don't pretend to be. I go with my gut and I disagree wholeheartedly with the issue above.

dlowan wrote:

Hmmm...I'd be way more convinced by the after care stuff than by the problems of maintaining security in a hospital. Prisoners have to be treated in general hospitals all the time, and, while it ain't pretty, and it DOES present security risks, it is doable, and is done. I would guess it is more a SHOULD it be done that a CAN it be done thing...I doubt they'd hesitate with most surgery.

Setanta wrote:

I'd be very surprised to learn that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not have a designated high security hospital facility in an existing hospital. For example, the Ohio State University Medical Center supplies this need to the state department of corrections in Ohio. There is a secure ward which is patrolled by uniformed corrections personnel, with a reception/access control station at the entrance to the ward. There are numerous cameras which look at the ward from several angles, which look at the hall at the entrance to the ward, the emergency exit stairwell and the elevator which leads to the hall in front of the ward. The cameras are monitored in the Lieutenant's/Shift Supervisor's office opposite the ward entrance, and in the hospital security control center. (The security systems company i worked for maintained the camera system for the hospital, including that ward.) Perhaps you could find out, Fishin', if there is any such facility in Massachusetts.

The State does have facilities for treating prisoners. That isn't in question. (Exactly who gets treated where depends on which prison they are in, whether it is a county jail or state prison and what teh specific medical issue is... It could be Norwood Hospital if the prisoner is at Walpole State Prison, Emerson Hospital if they are at the Concord State prison, etc... or in some cases, Mass Generall in downtown Boston for something the smaller hospitals can't deal with.).

A part of Kosilek's complaint though, is that he needs his sexual reassignment surgery done at a facility that specializes in doing exactly that sort fo thing. None of the "normal" hospitals do this sort of thing (why medical staff couldn't be brought to one of those hospitals and use their facilities is a good question though...)

But anyway, Here is a link (90 page PDF file!) to the court's ruling in his 2002 lawsuit and some of the discussion. The current suit is a continuation of much of the exact same issues/discussion. (Much of the info in the court document was unknown to me previously. There has been no mention of his previously having been raped in prison, his suicide attempts and attempt to self-castrate while awaiting trial for murdering his wife in any of the press accounts that I've seen.)