By Michael Seinberg
Poor Dean Cochrun. He’s serving time in a South Dakota prison on a kidnapping conviction and while many folks in his position find God, or learn a skill, he lost something: his foreskin. Well, to be more precise, he recently became aware that he had been circumcised at birth. Really?
Hard as it is to believe, Cochrun never noticed before this that his body part looked somewhat different than those of other men. “I was recently made aware of that fact that I had been (circumcised) and that…I was robbed of sensitivity during sexual intercourse as well as the sense of security and well-being I am entitled to in my person,” he noted in his lawsuit. He added that neither he nor his partners would, “Have sensitivity during sexual intercourse and have a normal sex life.” Really?
So, it true form, Cochrun has sued the hospital where he was born for $1,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. He also wants his foreskin restored. Really.
Cochrun claims an unknown doctor misled his mother to think that the procedure was medically necessary. He suggests that it was unnecessary, unethical and without medical benefit. It should also be pointed out that Cochrun is not represented by a lawyer in this matter.
The real problem with this case is that you just have to ask why it took this guy 28 years to figure out that he’d been circumcised. It makes you wonder what else he might have missed along the way. And just as an afterthought, who exactly pointed this out to him and who is he having sex with while he’s in jail? Hopefully, this is one aspiring jailhouse lawyer who will opt for wood shop instead.
Cochrun is lucky in one way though. He’s an inmate in South Dakota. Over in Nebraska a bill that would limit the number of frivolous lawsuits that inmates can file at public expense is set for a final vote in the state legislature. If the law passes a judge could prohibit a prisoner from filing if three previous suits were deemed frivolous. Cochrun has two more to go.
Due to a bad link we could not post Hugh7′s original comment, but below is the text:
“Good luck to him! He is just as much wronged as anyone else in that position. (Equal justice under law, remember?) He may be an inmate now, but sooner or later he’ll be released and want a (hetero)sex life. It’s not at all uncommon for men to be unaware that they have been circjmcised, if the only circumcision they hear about is in the Bible, and they look like all their peers. No two circumcisions are the same and we have no way to judge what may have gone wrong in his case. His financial claim is very modest.”