Michelle Kosilek
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — No doubt mainstream media is going to exploit this decision by the federal judge who earlier ruled favorably on transgender inmate Michelle Kosilek’s request for SRS, into a barrage of attacks against trans people, so I might as well get ahead of this and state the facts.
If you recall, Federal Judge Mark Wolf, in a landmark decision last September, ordered the state of Massachusetts to provide SRS for Kosilek because the judge decided that withholding the surgery in Kosilek’s case amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. What the judge did not say was that all trans inmates can get SRS at the state’s expense on demand. He based his decision on the fact Kosilek endured 9 years of medical treatment before reaching the point that SRS was “only adequate treatment” left. Other prisoners would likely need to follow the same course of treatment before SRS is considered.
Being awarded legal fees is only the natural course of action here. Any prisoner found suffering from cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of the state is entitled for legal fees reimbursement. Such large payments have been awarded before. This should be no surprise to anyone.
The state of Massachusetts is trying to appeal Wolf’s decision, however, the judge said Kosilek’s team would forgo the fees if the state drops their appeal. The state had no comment.
More articles about the Kosilek case: http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/?s=kosilek
Compiled from reports from The Associated Press and The Boston Globe.
Michelle Kosilek
Judge: Mass. sex change inmate’s lawyers get $700K.
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Filed under: Judicial, Courts, SRS, Sex Reassignment Surgery, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, cruel and unusual punishment, federal court, Judge Mark Wolf, legal fees, Massachusetts, Michelle Kosilek, sex reassignment surgery, srs
I have a real issue with a cold blooded killer getting free surgery, of any kind If I had been the judge in this case, I would have said yes, SRS is a necessary medical surgery, HOWEVER because you committed murder, you won’t be getting it. Instead someone who hasn’t killed someone in cold blood will be getting the surgery paid for by the state.
depends on there definition of SRS. If it’s an orchiectomy I believe that it could be considered a neccessary surgery
Within the system, a person’s crime is not taken into consideration for necessary medical procedures. No one is denied brain surgery, or heart surgery, or an appendectomy, or dental care for an abscessed tooth due to the crime they committed which resulted in them being incarcerated.
An ever growing majority of worldwide experts in medicine deem SRS to be a medically necessary surgery in these cases.
When I worked in the system, I sent people with medical issues to the Health Services Unit. There was never a check of records to see what their crime was, as that is irrelevant to the correctional system’s mission which is “Care and Custody”, or to the Hippocratic oath of the doctors or to the legal system.
You don’t say to someone under your care and in your custody, “You are having chest pains? Oh wait, you’re in for armed robbery? Sorry, you can’t go to see the doctor.”
Thanks for the comments!
Let this turd suffer
[...] Kosilek, of course, is the Massachusetts prisoner, who recent won a court ruling on her “cruel and unusual punishment” claim. Read more about that here: http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/transgender-inmates-lawyers-to-get-700k-in-denying-srs-i… [...]
this is wrong…this person should NOT have been awarded the surgery at the taxpayers expense…..