In the on-going debate in the U.S. about taxpayer-funded Viagra going to convicted sex offenders, the governments policymakers are really rattled and the line between politics and health care is again becoming unclear.
It was recently discovered, almost by accident, that over the last five years, more than 400 convicted sex offenders in New York and Florida received state-subsidized Viagra. This was able to happen because of a so-called loophole in Medicaid, which allows doctors to prescribe Viagra to patients they consider need it.
Of course all this is great material for the media espeicialy with some form of sexual abuse or other being revealed on an almost daily basis.
As result both the media and politicians appear to have come to the conclusion that taxpayers are helping convicted criminals commit further offences, and giving Viagra to a sex offender has been deemed comparable to giving a gun to a convicted murderer.
For once, there seems to be a bipartisan consensus, but the problem is that it should be doctors and not politicians dictating which medication is appropriate for a patient.
Laura Berman, Ph.D., who is a sex therapist, in speaking to the Chicago Sun Times says that in her clinical experience, healthy sexual encounters are actually a key part of a sex offender's successful recovery because they teach the sex offender to refocus his desire on an appropriate subject.
Berman says that some convicted sex offenders have been in treatment for decades, with no recidivism, and to deny them access to a normal sex life such as refusing them treatment for erectile dysfunction, would be counterproductive. Instead of aiding and abetting a sex offender, it's more likely that Viagra is being prescribed to those in a healthy, consensual relationship who are experiencing erectile dysfunction, says Berman.
Dr Berman says that if a doctor has decided that Viagra should be part of a sex offender's recovery toward a normal life, and Viagra is covered by our federal Medicaid program, it would be wrong to deny the treatment, and taking away a past sex offender's Viagra may actually impede successful treatment.