Comments on: Inmate's Sex-Change Demand Draws Scrutiny

Murderer's Bid To Have The State Pay For His Sex Change Is Bogged Down In Federal Court

[grrein]

Here is an idea.......Let it become a woman but since she was born a man...leave her in with the male prisoners and let nature take its course.........OR BETTER YET.....KILL IT!!!!!

[three-o-six]

Yea - let him have the *** change - and let the family of the victum preform it -- that seems like justice to me.

[ilonka1953]

oh hell no!!!!!!!......no....no....no.......!!!!!!

[terry67--2008]

Pedophelia is a real disorder too

The treatment for paedophilia is not to being allowed to offend; therapy and medication are the treatments. If there are convicted paedophiles who are not receiving their medication and therapy while incarcerated then there is a serious problem with the corrections system.

Any other patient with a mental illness would be given the help necessary to let them live with their disease. Any other patient with a physical illness would likewise be treated.

This just so happens to be a mental illness with a physical manifestation. It is a mental illness that, in many cases, needs to be treated with a physical cure: surgery.

There are other options that, if discussed with the patient, may be acceptable. Orchiectomy, for example, is an acceptable treatment for those who feel they are being "poisoned" by testosterone.

Again, I don't know the specifics of this case and it is highly individualized in nature.

I do reject out of hand, however, that this person, just because of the nature of their illness, should be left out in the cold with regard to treatment.

[terry67--2008]

Pedophelia is a real disorder too

The treatment for paedophilia is not to being allowed to offend; therapy and medication are the treatments. If there are convicted paedophiles who are not receiving their medication and therapy while incarcerated then there is a serious problem with the corrections system.

Any other patient with a mental illness would be given the help necessary to let them live with their disease. Any other patient with a physical illness would likewise be treated.

This just so happens to be a mental illness with a physical manifestation. It is a mental illness that, in many cases, needs to be treated with a physical cure: surgery.

There are other options that, if discussed with the patient, may be acceptable. Orchiectomy, for example, is an acceptable treatment for those who feel they are being "poisoned" by testosterone.

Again, I don't know the specifics of this case and it is highly individualized in nature.

I do reject out of hand, however, that this person, just because of the nature of their illness, should be left out in the cold with regard to treatment.

[tmkgls]

Law abiding citizens and/or their employers pay for their insurance and they still usually have to fight to get their insurance to pay for a such an operation. If not, then they must save up money to pay for it themselves. Let this Kosilek guy save up his own earnings he gets in prison to get his change. It may take the rest of his life but "that's life"!

Taxpayers should NOT have to pay for the operation. If he hadn't have ended up in prison this situation would NEVER have occurred - he would've had to save up for it himself. It has NOTHING to do with rights. If he's depressed - give him anti-depressents just like everyone else who can't afford such an operation has to.

[terry67--2008]

thursday24,

The medical condition of GID is, in fact, life threatening in many cases. Suicide is extremely prevalent in GID cases and sufferers with the disease lead an otherwise miserable existence. It%u2019s not merely a depression, it%u2019s a self-loathing to the core of one's being. I would say that it%u2019s likely incomprehensible for anyone who hasn%u2019t suffered GID to truly be able to identify with it.

There are those for whom hormones are entirely sufficient; but in this case that may not be so. I truly believe that if this inmate is in a life-threatening condition of unavoidable depression and self-loathing that hormones are not enough, and any treatment shy of SRS is not truly treating the illness. To do otherwise would be substandard medical care.

I don't know the specifics of the case down to the nitty-gritty and therefore I can%u2019t say for certain whether or not I would approve surgery if the decision were mine; but I absolutely wouldn%u2019t rule out the option in any case ever as many of the comments here are indicating.

As with organ transplant there is a case-by-case consideration with regard to the recipients' eligibility for a new organ, in these types of cases there are situations in which surgery would be an absolutely necessity; anything less being akin to torture.

In the outside world this person would have the opportunity to work toward surgery. Incarceration, fault notwithstanding, forces her to remain inaccurately gender-identified.

[susanhelit]

GID may be a real disorder - but that doesn't mean he gets what he wants. Pedophelia is a real disorder too - shall we deliver some 7 year olds, or kiddy porn to make them feel better too?



The prison made the first mistake by giving him the hormones and other garbage. None of that was necessary. He's a prisoner. He gets medical treatment to keep him alive, and that's it. And he should count himself lucky to get that. Physical pain, incapacity - yeah, we can treat that. But merely to 'feel better' about himself? No earthly way.

[susanhelit]

We shouldn't even bother with experts for this - no need to interview him and see if he needs this or not or whatever. He couldn't get it from insurance on the outside - he can't have it on the inside. Period. Plenty have some issue or other with their appearance - tough luck.

[my2centss]

"Kosilek, 58, was convicted of strangling his wife in 1990. He claimed he killed her in self-defense after she spilled boiling tea on his genitals."

This isn't self defense in Massachusetts? If he was a senator, he wouldn't have served any time. Even under lesser circumstances.

[thursday24]

Madhacktress...

NO this absolutely SHOULD NOT be treated the same as a "failure of an organ" !!!!! He wants this to get over his DEPRESSION - NOT CONTINUE TO LIVE!!!! Boohoo - THE FU(KING WIFE MURDERER IS SAD!!! So lets all pitch in so he can get his di(k wacked off!!! OMG!!!!!

[abigail4476]

Uh...is this even a REAL question? I can't believe his request would even be CONSIDERED. Next thing you know, female inmates will be allowed to have Botox and boob jobs out of the taxpayer's pocket. Lovely.

[terry67--2008]

In my opinion the question is what other medical procedures are provided for clinically ill inmates. Clearly the corrections workers recognize the GID diagnosis and accept that it needs to be treated (hence the hormones). In many instances, surgery is necessary for completely successful treatment of GID. While the fact may be that the patient is feeling better on hormones, that may not be enough to completely treat the disease.

I don't know the answer to the question, but I would suggest that this be treated the same as any inmate suffering from the failure of an organ - such as the kidney. If kidney-failure sufferers are given only access to dialysis for the rest of their natural born lives - without ever having the chance or option of organ transplant - then, yes, this is the right course. If the "close by not quite" treatment is used for other illnesses then, by all means, the same should be applied here.

If other inmate with other clearly diagnosable illnesses - as GID is, the DSM-IV is pretty specific - only get a partial treatment to keep them alive, but not cure their illness once and for all, then so too should this person.

[dmk3]

It looks like Ozzie Ozbourne.

[barbaraf4]

"If he really insists on this operation I'll do it for him, I'm quite talented with my chainsaw, just not very good with a needle and thread,----- So I'll bring along the duct tape....... "
Posted by ncolsens at 04:48 PM : Jun 26, 2007

I'm a surgical nurse if you need an assistant. The duct tape should make a nice touch.

[barbaraf4]

"The question at the center of the case: Should a murderer serving life in prison get a ***-change operation at taxpayer expense"

That answer would be NO! We seem to be missing the part about jail being (supposedly) punishment. I know the prisoner wants this; however, someone needs to tell him that people in h*e*l*l want ice water and that's not going to happen either.

[dogsoul]

Let's see if I got this straight... he murders his wife & now we have to spend several thousands of dollars keeping him alive in prison while getting little to no productivity in return. He's already managed to have us shell out more thousands of dollars with trials & a bunch of high paid experts so that he can force us to pay even more thousands of dollars so he can get a *** change... a procedure that your typical law-abiding citizen would almost always have to pay for themselves... that about right?

[sandy19731]

I'm a psychologist
I vote NO.

asking the govt. to pay for his *** change operation when we are already footing everything else...asinine. Even if he paid for it himself, you lose privileges in prison, this should be one of them.

[reel-crazy]

Perhaps we could reach an agreement and give him two passes with the guillotine. One low, then one high. We all win.

[edamos54]

A few days ago they had the UGLIEST DOG contest.
If this guy gets his operation - no matter who
pays for it - he has the UGLIEST WOMAN contest
in the bag /he-she-it definitely swallowed the ugly stick/. Maybe the taxpayers could get their
money back if they have to pay and if there's a cash prize for winning this event.