By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 20, 2013
In September, a federal judge ordered Massachusetts authorities to provide a taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery for transgender prisoner Michelle Kosilek. In this ruling, a convicted murderer will receive better health care than law-abiding citizens in both America and Canada.
Should we be outraged that a convict is getting this sort of care on the taxpayer’s dollar? Or should we consider the fact that any other ruling would be considered “cruel and unusual punishment” under the eighth amendment of the U.S. constitution? We are submitting many innocent people to treatment “incompatible with the concept of human dignity.”
“It may seem strange,” writes Judge Mark Wolf, “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.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Kosilek has attempted to castrate herself and twice tried to commit suicide despite hormone treatment and psychotherapy.
Gender dysphoria—characterized by persistent discomfort and anxiety about one’s assigned gender—is a characteristic of Gender Identity Disorder, which is listed as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association. Gender dysphoria leads to extreme distress and unhappiness, disrupting one’s ability to lead a normal and happy life, socially and otherwise. High rates of depression and suicidal tendencies in people with gender dysphoria emphasize the need for professional and medical help.
Canadians pride ourselves on our healthcare system. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is an “essential medical treatment.” In 2003, a federal court agreed. Yet the federal government does not make decisions about specific services on a local level, so many provinces do not recognize the medical necessities of transgendered Canadians. Many provinces only offer partial coverage. In fact, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia do not cover the treatment at all. In many cases a patient will have to travel to Toronto for a procedure. There are hoops that a patient must jump through: specific institutions one must be referred by, and a certain time period they must live as their preferred gender before being considered for treatment.
The varying coverage for people who suffer from gender dysphoria is unacceptable. A sex reassignment surgery is not a cosmetic elective; it’s a necessary procedure that is critical for a person’s mental wellbeing. The Canada Health Act’s purpose is to act as a safety net, ensuring that necessary medical treatment is accessible for those who require it. Such a procedure may cost anything between $10,000 and $30,000. Asking an individual to pay this is ludicrous; taxpayers should fund it collectively. It is not a procedure that is high in demand or that a person would take lightly.
Some taxpayers may be opposed to these types of procedures, considering it a moral offence. However, it is a decision that must be based on fact and not on the intolerance and prejudice of a narrow-minded minority.
Our tax dollars go to lung cancer patients who chose to smoke; it goes to obese people who ate what they wanted and now suffer from diabetes. Why should we not be funding those who did not choose to suffer from gender dysphoria?
