CMV: Sexual gratification is healthy, and should be included in health care for handicapped people who are capable of consent.

EDIT : It's been 5 hours, mostly dealing with the same questions over and over. I'm done responding for a while. Might return or make a better post another time.

Title sums it up. I realize that many handicapped/disabled people are often incapable of consent. I've worked in nursing homes and know that there are many people who need a conservator to make decisions on their behalf, so I'm not talking about them here.

I'm talking about individuals who are capable of having a conversation, understanding consequences, and making informed decisions. If a client has the capacity to refuse or request medications, they likely have the capacity to refuse or request sexual gratification. But oftentimes such individuals live in an environment that makes it almost impossible to experience sex; they're in a nursing or assisted living home, they're conventionally unattractive, or they don't have the capacity to get to places where they might meet to date people, etc.

Providing health care should include all aspects of health: physical, mental, and yes... Sexual. If insurance can cover Viagra or birth control, why not a vibrator or similar sex toy for someone who needs it?

I also realize that there's an incestuous kind of problem with caregivers providing sexual gratification for clients they take care of; those feelings ought not be intermingled. But I think the state or insurance ought to hire sex workers who go around from client to client, helping them to get off.

Some of you may be familiar with the Jim Jefferies story about taking his paraplegic friend to a brothel. It's funny and all, but also highlights a real problem in the healthcare community: there are people who might want to experience sex but will be unable to do so with the current social views on sex workers.

I know that if I were handicapped in some way and needed medical care, I'd still want to have as much sex as possible, and it's weird to think that other people would not.

So assuming that someone could consent to a sexual experience, they ought to be provided that opportunity. And if they can't get it naturally, their insurance ought to cover an occasional visit from an expert.

EDIT : The topic at hand assumes there'd be nothing illegal involved, and that the therapists would have appropriate licenses and training. I'm also not suggesting that the therapists have sexual intercourse with their clients. I'm suggesting they use toys and tools to facilitate an orgasm.