US inmate with gender-identity disorder lauds sex-change ruling
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In this Jan15, 1993 file photo, Robert Kosilek sits in Bristol County Superior Court, in New Bedford, Mass. Kosilek, a convicted murderer in Massachusetts who won the right to get a state-funded sex change is also eligible to have legal fees, expected to top US$500,000 (S$612,000), paid as well, a federal judge ruled. United States District Judge Mark Wolf earlier this month ordered the state Department of Correction to provide sex-reassignment surgery to Kosilek. Judge Wolf found that prison officials had violated Kosilek's Eighth Amendment right to protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and that the surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Kosilek's gender-identity disorder. Judge Wolf has now found that Kosilek is also entitled to legal fees. -- PHOTO: AP
BOSTON (AP) - A convicted murderer in Massachusetts says a judge's decision to grant her request for sex-reassignment surgery is "the right thing to do."
United States (US) District Judge Mark Wolf ruled this month that the surgery is the only adequate treatment for Michelle Kosilek's gender-identity disorder, a condition he said is a "serious medical need."
The ruling marks the first time a judge has ordered prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery.
Judge Wolf's ruling prompted an outcry among some legislative leaders, who say Kosilek isn't entitled to the taxpayer-funded surgery.
