Source+9

"Should Tax Payers have to pay for a convicted murderer sex change." Web. 5 Sept. 2012. .

1.a federal judge has ordered Massachusetts to let a transgender prisoner have a sex change and make taxpayers foot the bill.

. 2.Prison officials oppose the surgery, worrying that they won't be able to keep a male-turned-female inmate safe in an all-male prison after a sex change. 3.Doctors say the procedure was the "only form of adequate medical care" 4.Diagnosed with severe gender identity disorder, Kosilek has been living as a woman in an otherwise all-male prison in Norfolk, Mass., for the last two decades. 5.Others resort to hormones and sex reassignment surgery, although even then they sometimes continue to have identity issues. 6.Kosilek has self-castration attempted, and twice tried to commit suicide, according to court documents. 7.Wolf now says that even though his ruling is "unprecedented," the surgery is the only way doctors see to adequately treat Kosilek's condition, and that denying her request would amount to a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. 8. Outrageous abuse of taxpayers 9.Wolf wrote in his decision, "but the Eighth Amendment promises prisoners such care." Sen. Brown urged the state to appeal, but the Department of Corrections declined to say what its next move would be. If Kosilek //does// have the surgery, the case could wind up in court again — to decide whether the state will have to transfer Kosilek to a //women's// prison. 10.Kosilek first sued the Department of Corrections 12 years ago. Judge Wolf ruled two years later that Kosilek should receive treatment, but he didn't order the operation, which can cost $20,000. Kosilek has been receiving hormones, but says that's not enough, and sued again in 2005, arguing that an operation was not a choice, but a medical necessity. 11.Everybody has the right to have their health care needs met, whether they are in prison or out on the streets," she says. 12.Wolf now says that even though his ruling is "unprecedented," the surgery is the only way doctors see to adequately treat Kosilek's condition, and that denying her request would amount to a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. 13.But the way Judge Wolf sees it, the state has no choice. "It may seem strange that in the United States citizens do not generally have a constitutional right to adequate medical care," Wolf wrote in his decision, "but the Eighth Amendment promises prisoners such care." 14.Others resort to hormones and sex reassignment surgery, although even then they sometimes continue to have identity issues. 15.It's a condition in which a person's physical gender is out of sync with the one he or she identifies with — in this case, Kosilek was born male, but //feels// like he's a woman.