The move will cost the National Health Service (NHS) around $25,000 (£20,000) for Green's stay of several days in a private room. If the prisoner is set for a surgery, the publicly funded NHS will foot the bill of up to $77,000 (£60,000).
The entire ordeal will include a 1,000-mile round-trip a Scotland prison to a hospital in the south of England and 24-hour guard, accompanying Green.
"We cannot discuss individual cases but if a request is made by the NHS for surgery for one of the prisoners it is treating, we would not and could not stand in the way," a spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said.
Born Peter Laing, Green has identified as a woman since 2011. She was detained in 2013 for the murder of a 45-year-old man, who was tortured, sexually assaulted and battered to death after being lured to Green's flat.
Given the strained state of NHS funding and continuous cash injections required to sustain Britain's healthcare giant, a move to spend thousands of pounds on a serious crime perpetrator for a non-life —saving operation caused a stir of disagreement.
How must the victims family feel reading this, they go out to work and pay taxes so this waste of space can be given 60k of treatment, I'm disgusted.
— Sarah (@Sarafino1) November 19, 2018
😡
— Amanda 🐼 (@Holyrudegirl) November 19, 2018
Prison officers have reportedly expressed concerns that the decision to grant Green the reassignment surgery would send out the wrong message to offenders and victims of serious crime.
"Most of the people I've discussed this with think it's outrageous. You can murder someone brutally but while you're in prison you're entitled to everything you ask for, no matter the burden you put on a stretched system, because it might breach your human rights to say no. What about the rights of the victim and his family? Is anyone thinking of them? Is it not another slap in the face they could do without?" a prison officer has been reported to say.
Another prison worker has reportedly said they don't have a problem with people changing their sex, as long as they haven't hurt the wider community.
"Has anyone asked the nursing staff who will look after her if they are happy to care for a murderer? This is not a life-saving operation, it is not vital to keep Green healthy."
