McKinnon's Extradition

Gary McKinnon is British and lives in the UK. He also suffers from Asperges Syndrome. Some seven years ago, it is alleged he hacked into top secret US defence and security computers and for this reason, the US authorities wish to have him extradited to stand trial for these offences in the USA. As I write, the Home Secretary is not opposing this extradition - unsurprisingly, McKinnon's lawyers vehemently disagree with this inaction.

For me, the interest here is the implied - sometimes stated - claim that a British man with Asperges Syndrome will not be treated as well in the USA as he would be in the UK.

Of course I am not qualified to judge the degree, if any, to which McKinnon will be disorientated by transportation to the USA and if this in will in any way prejudice the ideal of a fair trial but I am interested, on a more general basis, by yet another outbreak of that jingoistic condition which I define as "Ill on Holiday Abroad" or "IHAb".

At its simplest IHAb relates to the fact that a Frenchman who becomes ill while visiting the UK will immediately hot foot it back to the shores of France where they have the only medical teams capable of dealing with Gallic ailments. Ditto an Englishman holidaying in France.

And as the McKinnon case shows, this is not just about an almost total distrust (rarely born out by the facts) of foreign medicine but also of foreign law. I find it difficult to imagine that the enthusiasm with which US lawyers engage in litigation to right wrongs (or at least to seek compensation for them) would not defend Mr McKinnon at the highest level, should he require it. And I would hope British lawyers would do the same (as I am sure they do) for Americans and all others for whom they have responsibility.