Debate This: Should Taxpayers Be Funding Sex Reassignment Surgery For Transgende

[Natasha]

Debate This: Should Taxpayers Be Funding Sex Reassignment Surgery For Transgender People In Prison?

http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-09-13/debate-this-should-taxpayers-be-funding-sex-reassignment-surgery-for-transgender-people-in-prison/
9/13/12
Lesley Kinzel

Local news in my adopted state of Massachusetts is all abuzz lately with controversy over prisoner Michelle Kosilek, currently incarcerated for the 1990 murder of her spouse, and who has, after years of legal struggles, been awarded a court order mandating that she receive the surgery she so desperately needs, on the taxpayers' dime.

The catch — and of course there's a catch — is that Michelle Kosilek is transgender, and the court-ordered surgery is sex reassignment surgery. She was convicted of murdering her wife by strangling her with a wire (and, apparently, nearly decapitating her in the process), when her name was Robert Kosilek, and is now serving a life sentence for that crime. Kosilek began transitioning the same year as the murder, and has brought numerous lawsuits fighting for her right to trans-specific medical care, from hormone therapy to electrolysis treatments.

[dalebert]

They should just transfer her to a women's prison without the surgery but I suspect that would create even more controversy and cost (due to more lawsuits) than paying for the operation with tax money first.

[Snowpaw]

"Should taxpayers be paying for SRS for prison inmate?"

In my opinion?



Now to the real meat of it. We are already paying for her meds.... I won't argue against the ruling, it's a double edged sword really. Congrats to her for murdering someone, getting free meds and surgery while the rest of us try to fund it however we can. Very very nice. I just wish there was some other federally mandated healthcare that would cover this and at least give us a glimmer of hope things would get better.