What makes it necessary?
To me, when I think of necessary surgery for a lifer, I'm thinkin stab wound, cancer, etc. When I think of necessary surgery for a death row I think well, just give him the shot now. Going-to-be-released prisoners should get the best treatment, but I'm not so sure about surgery for nonlifethreatening things.
I think it'd take a lot of convincing to get me/most US citizens to believe that hormones + genital surgey = absolutely necessary for Manning to stay alive.
We're not just talking about prisoners. We're talking about whether sex changes should be covered in general.
Moreover, I don't know why you keep going back to death row. Manning is not facing the death penalty. I don't believe in the death penalty, and of course prisoners should receive necessary medical procedures prior to the penalty -- anything else would be equivalent to torture.
re: Coverage for the entire free population...I don't agree with the surgery unless it's a life threatening situation
Death row v. life v. gen pop makes a difference to me. I think each category should receive different standards of healthcare. Resources are finite, so the more we provide to people we plan to kill, the less we can provide to others.
What makes it necessary?
To me, when I think of necessary surgery for a lifer, I'm thinkin stab wound, cancer, etc. When I think of necessary surgery for a death row I think well, just give him the shot now. Going-to-be-released prisoners should get the best treatment, but I'm not so sure about surgery for nonlifethreatening things.
I think it'd take a lot of convincing to get me/most US citizens to believe that hormones + genital surgey = absolutely necessary for Manning to stay alive.
If the person wants the surgery, it's generally thought of as important to their psychological health, as if they had a mental illness, and deserves the same amount of attention / health care. Every time they use the bathroom/dress/etc, they are reminded of their physical disposition, which is hugely traumatic to some people; they truly and deeply hate parts their bodies and that has a huge impact on mental health.
Having had friends go through this, I am incredibly in support of anyone desiring the surgery to be able to get it, and it be covered through standard health care; the impact it has had one their lives is incredible.
Want? Pfft...I give approx. zero shits about what prisoners
want. Need? That's what's important. If the prisoner is much more likely to kill his self, I'd say it's probably necessary. Again, though, I can think of a situation in which it'd make _way_ more sense to just execute the prisoner now rather than later instead of providing a surgery that may increase his self-acceptance. (Weird realization = I'm at least partially pro-death panels. I guess I do support Obamacare
)
But for serious, I think the whole finite resources thing must be considered. If we provide X to a prisoner, we can't provide X to someone else.
Show Posts
