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[Vilix]

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal judge in Boston has ordered Massachusetts authorities to provide a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation for a transgender prisoner.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said he based his ruling on the recommendations of doctors at the commonwealth’s Department of Correction who prescribed sex-reassignment surgery as “the only form of adequate medical care” for Michelle Kosilek.

Kosilek, who used to go by “Robert,” is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1990 murder of his wife.

Judge Wolf, describing his 126-page order as “unprecedented,” said that denying Kosilek the surgery was a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Prison officials opposed the operation, saying they couldn’t provide security for Kosilek were he to receive a sex change — an argument Judge Wolf described as “pretextual.” Several state legislators publicly opposed using taxpayer funds to pay for the sex-reassignment surgery.

Specialists have diagnosed Kosilek with severe gender identity disorder, and since 2003 he has been receiving female hormones. Kosilek lives in the general population of an all-male prison in Norfolk, Mass.

Despite the hormone treatment and psychotherapy, Kosilek has attempted to castrate himself and twice tried to commit suicide, according to court documents.

“It is unusual to treat a prisoner suffering severely from a gender identity disorder differently than the numerous inmates suffering from more familiar forms of mental illness,” wrote Judge Wolf, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. “It is not permissible for prison officials to do so just because the fact that a gender identity disorder is a major mental illness not understood by much of the public and the required treatment for it is unpopular.”

Judge Wolf acknowledged that Mr. Kosilek, a convicted murderer, may receive better care for his disorder than many law-abiding Americans.

“It may seem strange that in the United States citizens do not generally have a constitutional right to adequate medical care, but the Eighth Amendment promises prisoners such care,” he wrote, pointing to a 2011 Supreme Court decision that said providing anything less was “incompatible with the concept of human dignity.”

Judge Wolf said correction officials, not himself, should decide where the surgery should take place, who should perform it and where Kosilek should be incarcerated after the surgery.

A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Diane Wiffin, said, ”We are reviewing the decision and exploring our appellate options.”

Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) called the decision “an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars” and encouraged state officials to appeal the decision.

A lawyer for Kosilek, Frances Cohen of Bingham McCutchen LLP, said she was “pleased and gratified that we got such a thoughtful and full decision from the chief judge.”

Ms. Cohen said federal courts have considered about two dozen requests by prisoners for general treatment to gender identity disorder. Only a handful of courts have considered sex-reassignment surgery, she said.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/09/04/judge-orders-sex-change-operation-for-federal-prisoner/

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

This thread will be a graveyard.

 

[NaturalHigh]

Someone tell me how much money a sex change costs.

I would like to know how much I am paying for this to happen.

 

[Gray Man]

I would bring up the death penalty, but that's also expensive. Why aren't there cheaper ways to enforce the death penalty?

 

[Divvy]

EDIT: wrong thread

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

The thread title makes it sound like the prisoner is being forced to have a sex-change op.

 

[Guevara]

Judge orders state to pay for doctor-recommended medical procedure for prisoner.

Boring.

 

[poppabk]

So prisoners have more rights than law abiding citizens. To deny a murderer access to medical care is cruel and unusual punishment, to deny a regular person the same is just good business.

 

[Elginer]

So, person kills someone and goes to prison and gets free surgery. Yep, sounds like a good deal to me.

Spoiler

No it fucking isn't. :/

 

[Gaborn]

Someone tell me how much money a sex change costs.

I would like to know how much I am paying for this to happen.

I think like $20k or so.

I don't have big problem with this. Gender Identity Disorder is a recognized psychiatric condition with the recommended treatment being hormones and surgery to bring the body in line with a person's actual gender. In extreme cases GID can cause such distress that a patient becomes suicidal. Just because a person is in prison that doesn't mean the state has the right to withhold recommended medical treatment, especially when a prisoner has a severe illness.

 

[LyleLanley]

The thread title makes it sound like the prisoner is being forced to have a sex-change op.

Yeah, I came into this thread expecting a much more outrageous story.

 

[Milchjon]

OP, your title needs a bit more ooomph. Learn from the best and see how the Boston Herald did it yesterday:

"Federal judge orders taxpayer-funded sex change for wife killer"

That's how you hit every trigger!

 

[Moppet13]

Specialists have diagnosed Kosilek with severe gender identity disorder, and since 2003 he has been receiving female hormones. Kosilek lives in the general population of an all-male prison in Norfolk, Mass.

Despite the hormone treatment and psychotherapy, Kosilek has attempted to castrate himself and twice tried to commit suicide, according to court documents.

I think this part is a bit important. So he's been having hormone therapy for like 9 years?

 

[Dresden]

Specialists have diagnosed Kosilek with severe gender identity disorder, and since 2003 he has been receiving female hormones. Kosilek lives in the general population of an all-male prison in Norfolk, Mass.

Despite the hormone treatment and psychotherapy, Kosilek has attempted to castrate himself and twice tried to commit suicide, according to court documents.

Hmm, I wonder why.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Not touching this

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

The thread title makes it sound like the prisoner is being forced to have a sex-change op.

Yep. Now that would be kinda cruel.

 

[Slayven]

Not touching this

Only safe way.

 

[Mudkips]

Terrible thread title.

So prisoners have more rights than law abiding citizens. To deny a murderer access to medical care is cruel and unusual punishment, to deny a regular person the same is just good business.

No, the cruel and unusual punishment is forcing someone who identifies as a woman to be imprisoned in a male-only prison, and deny them the ability to transfer to a female-only prison.

The judge ordered that the state must stop that, and the easiest answer is to pay for gender reassignment and then transfer the prisoner to a female-only prison.

 

[Perspicacity]

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said he based his ruling on the recommendations of doctors at the commonwealth’s Department of Correction who prescribed sex-reassignment surgery as “the only form of adequate medical care” for Michelle Kosilek.

Most important sentence in the article.

It is a medical procedure to treat a medical condition and prisoners are entitled to medical care, not a lot of issue here.

 

[Threi]

Hmm, I wonder why.

poor guy

 

[lunch]

The thread title makes it sound like the prisoner is being forced to have a sex-change op.

That's what I was expecting too, and I was immediately furious.

I don't have big problem with this. Gender Identity Disorder is a recognized psychiatric condition with the recommended treatment being hormones and surgery to bring the body in line with a person's actual gender. In extreme cases GID can cause such distress that a patient becomes suicidal. Just because a person is in prison that doesn't mean the state has the right to withhold recommended medical treatment, especially when a prisoner has a sever illness.

I completely agree, and to go completely off the legal side of things, I really believe that providing a sex-change operation for somebody who identifies as a member of the opposite gender, especially when it's affected them on such an emotional level that they'd attempt to castrate themselves, is really a matter of extending basic human dignity.

 

[notworksafe]

Despite the hormone treatment and psychotherapy, Kosilek has attempted to castrate himself and twice tried to commit suicide, according to court documents.

Poor guy. I wonder what his wife thinks about the situation.

 

[sangreal]

I'm pretty sure we have this news at least once a year. Is this just a really long ongoing case, or does it happen all the time?

 

[Milchjon]

Poor guy. I wonder what his wife thinks about the situation.

 

[Perspicacity]

I'm pretty sure we have this thread at least once a year. Is this just a really long ongoing case, or does it happen all the time?

Gender dysphoria is still a very misunderstood medical condition. The cases that make it into the papers usually have a unique twist to get people riled up, so there have been plenty of threads that create stupid knee-jerk reactions.

 

[DJ88]

poor guy

Yeah, not the poor woman he killed or anything.

 

[Lear]

I see no problem with this.

And now I'm leaving the inevitable shitstorm this thread will become.

 

[Ultima_5]

Only safe way.

yup. back away

 

[kehs]

“It is unusual to treat a prisoner suffering severely from a gender identity disorder differently than the numerous inmates suffering from more familiar forms of mental illness,” wrote Judge Wolf, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. “It is not permissible for prison officials to do so just because the fact that a gender identity disorder is a major mental illness not understood by much of the public and the required treatment for it is unpopular.”

That's an interesting justification, considering gender identity disorders just got moved out of the mental illness classification.

 

[out0v0rder]

the best move is to not play.

 

[DemiMatt]

I'll step in . . . .

I'm ok with the judge at least proposing that this is within his rights as an American and he his at least using the 8th Amendment as grounds for it. The goal now is for it to go up to the next level for approval or not.

On the other hand the 20k in tax payers money for a sex change, and god knoes what other special treatment may incur having a 'female' placed in an all male prison will do is the part that really bothers me, because it would mean more money in medical fees and whatever else.

And . . . . I'm out.

 

[Femmeworth]

I wish my transition was being payed for by the government. :\

Anyway, I'm not against this in a more ideal world. I just wish ordinary citizens were treated as well. >_>

 

[nateeasy]

Another Ronald Reagan thread?

 

[antonz]

Cheaper to let the guy commit suicide. He is a convicted murderer who will never see outside of prison again.

 

[Tangeroo]

I wish my transition was being payed for by the government. :\

This right here. While the prisoner should have every right to get gender re-assignment surgery (and I apologize if this is not the correct term for it), I do not think that it's right for the government to foot the bill for it. She should be billed for the surgery and should work towards paying it off while incarcerated. That's just my opinion on it.

 

[SlipperySlope]

No way in hell should the government be paying for this.

 

[Smellycat]

Awful ruling. It is enough that taxpayers have to pay for his prison time, but it is simply irresponsible to use even more tax dollars to have a sex change operation for a someone who killed his wife.

 

[ReBurn]

Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) called the decision “an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars” and encouraged state officials to appeal the decision.

Something tells me that the appeal would cost more than the procedure.

 

[Emerson]

I've spent the last 6 weeks working in prison medicine and stuff like this is not as simple as "it's a doctor-recommended procedure so it should be standard procedure to get it done." In many prisons treatment is withheld for more classic medical conditions such as Hepatitis C.

This is always a question of money. Most prisons cannot afford to treat the amount of Hepatitis C they see. Can they afford to provide gender-reassignment surgery? If so, that's good. But I don't think any institution should be hung out to dry if they can't.

In this case it seems the medical staff wants it done (and it sounds like the patient needs it) but corrections doesn't want the hassle. In this case I say tough shit to them.

This right here. While the prisoner should have every right to get gender re-assignment surgery (and I apologize if this is not the correct term for it), I do not think that it's right for the government to foot the bill for it. She should be billed for the surgery and should work towards paying it off while incarcerated. That's just my opinion on it.

I spend every day prescribing Claritin and stool softeners to people accused of and convicted of murder, rape, arson, child molestation, and more. These treatments are nowhere near as expensive but taken as a whole they account for millions and millions of dollars worth of taxpayer funds.

To be 100% honest I'm not entirely sure what my opinion on that is. I don't think the prisoner is undeserving of medical care, but I'd be lying to say it doesn't strike me as strange to be providing for such mundane concerns of people who have done terrible things so recently. And gender reassignment surgery is medical care no matter how you slice it.

 

[fireside]

I think this part is a bit important. So he's been having hormone therapy for like 9 years?

She's

poor guy

Woman

Poor guy. I wonder what his wife thinks about the situation.

Woman, her

Yeah, not the poor woman he killed or anything.

She

I'll step in . . . .

I'm ok with the judge at least proposing that this is within his rights as an American and he his at least using the 8th Amendment as grounds for it. The goal now is for it to go up to the next level for approval or not.

On the other hand the 20k in tax payers money for a sex change, and god knoes what other special treatment may incur having a 'female' placed in an all male prison will do is the part that really bothers me, because it would mean more money in medical fees and whatever else.

She, no need for scare quotes around female

Cheaper to let the guy commit suicide. He is a convicted murderer who will never see outside of prison again.

Woman, she

 

[Mammoth Jones]

This thread will be a graveyard.

 

[The M.O.B]

Dude killed his wife, have no compassion for him at all. Many others suffer from the same symptoms and are not murderers, I think they should get dibs.

 

[HiResDes]

So will he be taken to a different facility after the operation. If the prisoner identifies as a woman, then staying at an all-male facility would create dissonance right?

 

[LiK]

yup, there goes my tax dollars. to that fool.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

So will he be taken to a different facility after the operation. If the prisoner identifies as a woman, then staying at an all-male facility would create dissonance right?

Usually protective custody.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

The guy editing her Wiki page sure seems confused, lol

In 1990, he killed her spouse Cheryl. Michelle is serving a life sentence in Norfolk, Massachusetts

Those pronouns are hard to keep track of.

 

[Emerson]

She's

Woman

Woman, her

She

She, no need for scare quotes around female

Woman, she

Is this even remotely necessary or constructive?

Being correct doesn't justify being douchey about it. Nobody was saying "he" maliciously.

 

[SapientWolf]

Will the prisoner end up being transferred to a female prison? Doesn't seem like it's a good idea to get a vagina while being housed in a male prison.

 

[Amory]

She's

Woman

Woman, her

She

She, no need for scare quotes around female

Woman, she

sigh.

 

[saltywalrus]

So, person kills someone and goes to prison and gets free surgery. Yep, sounds like a good deal to me.

Spoiler

No it fucking isn't. :/

They get free housing and food too. Those darn prisoners are living the the high life at the expense of hard working Joes like me. Anything more than a hole in the ground and gruel for sustenance is just simply a luxury we can't afford in this recession economy. Living in prison is so sweet, I don't understand why more people aren't trying to get in.