Autonomy and the Lure of the “Informed Consent Model” l Professor Kathleen Stock
Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine
4,678 views
Talk: Autonomy and the Lure of the “Informed Consent Model"
Conference: SEGM Berlin Conference 2025
Speaker: Professor Kathleen Stock
The views, opinions and beliefs expressed within the video presentation are solely those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions and beliefs of the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.
In this talk, Professor Kathleen Stock explores how “informed consent” is being used in modern healthcare, and why that matters, especially in gender medicine.
Starting with a recent case in Brighton involving the WellBN practice, Professor Stock examines how a strong version of the informed consent model can shift medicine away from clinical judgment and toward a system where patient desire becomes the main justification for treatment. Professor Stock argues that even when an adult is fully informed, consent alone should not automatically be enough to access any requested intervention.
Ultimately, what happens to medicine if wellbeing is no longer the core goal, and how cultural trends like distrust of expertise, “flattening” professional authority, and shifting responsibility away from institutions may be driving this change.
About the Speaker:
Kathleen Stock is a contributing editor at UnHerd and a co-director of The Lesbian Project. She is the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Little Brown 2021). She has written for a range of national newspapers, and is a sometime columnist for the Sunday Times and the Times. Until 2021 she was a Professor of Philosophy at Sussex University, and was awarded an OBE for services to higher education in 2020.
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome and thanks
00:42 Brighton case and Dr. Sam Hall investigation
03:40 What the “informed consent model” actually claims
04:35 Strong vs weak versions of informed consent
07:01 Why consent alone is still a problem (even for adults)
09:00 The “trans negativity” model and redefining success
10:53 Desire as the prerequisite for treatment
12:02 “Dignity of risk” and the emerging “right to regret”
15:03 What this model does to the doctor’s role and responsibility
17:50 Autonomy explained: negative rights vs demanding provision
22:44 Why this logic would reshape all of medicine if applied consistently
25:00 Assisted dying parallel: compassion arguments vs autonomy arguments
30:20 What medicine is for: wellbeing, beneficence, nonmaleficence
32:10 Cultural conditions making this model attractive
© 2025 Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. All rights reserved. This recording and the materials therein may not be used, reproduced, distributed, performed, displayed, or modified in any manner in whole or in part without express written consent of SEGM.
8 Comments
Gender and assisted dying for the long-term seriously ill are two very different subjects, and people may disagree with one but not the other, depending on their life experiences.
Autonomy and the Lure of the “Informed Consent Model” l Professor Kathleen Stock
Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine
4,678 views
Talk: Autonomy and the Lure of the “Informed Consent Model"
Conference: SEGM Berlin Conference 2025
Speaker: Professor Kathleen Stock
The views, opinions and beliefs expressed within the video presentation are solely those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions and beliefs of the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.
In this talk, Professor Kathleen Stock explores how “informed consent” is being used in modern healthcare, and why that matters, especially in gender medicine.
Starting with a recent case in Brighton involving the WellBN practice, Professor Stock examines how a strong version of the informed consent model can shift medicine away from clinical judgment and toward a system where patient desire becomes the main justification for treatment. Professor Stock argues that even when an adult is fully informed, consent alone should not automatically be enough to access any requested intervention.
Ultimately, what happens to medicine if wellbeing is no longer the core goal, and how cultural trends like distrust of expertise, “flattening” professional authority, and shifting responsibility away from institutions may be driving this change.
About the Speaker:
Kathleen Stock is a contributing editor at UnHerd and a co-director of The Lesbian Project. She is the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (Little Brown 2021). She has written for a range of national newspapers, and is a sometime columnist for the Sunday Times and the Times. Until 2021 she was a Professor of Philosophy at Sussex University, and was awarded an OBE for services to higher education in 2020.
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome and thanks
00:42 Brighton case and Dr. Sam Hall investigation
03:40 What the “informed consent model” actually claims
04:35 Strong vs weak versions of informed consent
07:01 Why consent alone is still a problem (even for adults)
09:00 The “trans negativity” model and redefining success
10:53 Desire as the prerequisite for treatment
12:02 “Dignity of risk” and the emerging “right to regret”
15:03 What this model does to the doctor’s role and responsibility
17:50 Autonomy explained: negative rights vs demanding provision
22:44 Why this logic would reshape all of medicine if applied consistently
25:00 Assisted dying parallel: compassion arguments vs autonomy arguments
30:20 What medicine is for: wellbeing, beneficence, nonmaleficence
32:10 Cultural conditions making this model attractive
© 2025 Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. All rights reserved. This recording and the materials therein may not be used, reproduced, distributed, performed, displayed, or modified in any manner in whole or in part without express written consent of SEGM.