Taxpayers to Pay for Murderer's Sex Change Operation

An inmate convicted in Los Angeles County in 1980 of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery has won the right to have the state pay for a sex reassignment operation, it was reported today.

California thus becomes the first state in the nation to agree to pay for such an operation, but the recent settlement of the case sidesteps the question of whether such surgery is a constitutional right, the Los Angeles Times reported in an article posted on its website this morning.

The state concedes that Shiloh Quine, who entered the California prison system in 1980 as Rodney, suffers severe gender dysphoria that can be treated only by physically conforming her body to her psychological gender, The Times reported.

In announcing the agreement to settle Quine’s federal lawsuit. the Corrections Department said that “every medical doctor and mental health clinician who has reviewed this case, including two independent mental health experts, determined that this surgery is medically necessary for Quine.”

California has nearly 400 transgender inmates receiving hormonal treatment, according to prison medical data. Quine’s lawyers said their research shows the cost of the operation she seeks ranges from $15,000 to $25,000.

Quine, who turned 56 on Friday, has repeatedly attempted suicide while incarcerated. In April 2014, a prison psychologist assessing Quine wrote that he believed sex reassignment was “reasonable and necessary to alleviate severe pain,” The Times reported.

When prison officials again denied the surgery, Quine in June 2014 tried once more to kill herself.

--City News Service