The continuum of informed consent models in transgender health

Using the ‘Informed Consent Model’ (ICM), clinicians prescribing hormone therapy to trans patients do not require a letter from mental health professionals attesting to their gender identity and/or gender dysphoria (and/or equivalent diagnostic or assessment category). Patients who are trans have a gender identity that does not correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth. A reaction to the paternalism and pathologization of trans people that have plagued trans healthcare, the proliferation of ICMs echoes the growing commitment to autonomy and patient-centred care by clinicians working with trans communities. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care (WPATH SOC) Version 7 acknowledges the validity of ICMs (1). Despite their prevalence and history in North America, ICMs remain poorly understood by medical professionals and are often treated as a monolithic concept (2,3). Existing research shows that ICMs are associated with good patient...