Sunday, August 19, 2012

Another waste of money

Why do I suspect this little tale has 'human rights' written all over it...
Mail.
A cannibal killer who ballooned to 23-stone has had a gastric band operation on the NHS in a private £1,000-a-night hospital, it has emerged.
Graham Fisher, 39, piled on weight after feasting on crisps, cakes and chocolate at the high security Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire.
But after complaining that he was obese and unfit, he was given the go-ahead to have the £8,000 operation.
According to The Sun, the sex predator - who killed two women, eating the flesh of one of them - was taken by guards to a private hospital in Oxfordshire last week after being on a waiting list for just three months.
It is expected he will recover from the surgery in his own private en-suite room for two more days bringing the cost of the entire procedure to taxpayers to £15,000.
The killer's room has a phone and a multi-channel TV.
Robert Oxley, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'This controversial treatment will go down poorly with ordinary people who are tightening their belts.'
Now I'm not against people in prison having operations to fix things, but this strikes me as being a bit of a vanity project, after all, the only one responsible for him getting obese is himself. My thoughts on the matter tend towards him only getting this sort of surgery after his sentence is finished (assuming it ever does) and that if he dies from his obesity then no great loss really. But I certainly do not believe he should have had this op, in a private hospital at a cost of £15,000 on me (and the rest of the taxpayers)
What I do have a sneaking suspicion of is that had he not had his way this one was heading for a Human Rights lawyer and the Court of Human rights and an even bigger bill for the taxpayer.
On the other hand the price of a 9mm bullet is about 20p and that would have fixed his weight problem (and feeding and keeping him) permanently if used in the approved manner.
Generally I'm not in favour of the death sentence, it leads to situations where saying sorry for a mistake is never going to put it right. But there are days and tales like this where my resolve wavers.

4 annotations:

Bucko said...

Where is he getting his food from if he's in a high security hospital? Surely they could have just put him on a diet?

Barman said...

Where is he getting his food from if he's in a high security hospital?

Exactly! FFS something has gone seriously wrong here...

I'd imagined them getting a spoonful of slop on a tray once a day - not crisps and cakes...

Dr Evil said...

If I had been the surgeon I would have been tempted to put him down.

Woman on a Raft said...

It won't be just his food which is given on demand instead of the 2,500k or so which an adult man needs to stay alive.

It will be a female mental health worker or 'girlfriend' with whom he will continue to have a rich fantasy life. Well, let's hope it's a fantasy but these days the prison authorities seem to see themselves as holiday camp operators rather than conscientious zoo keepers.