Paternalism and Autonomy in Transgender Healthcare

Transgender healthcare has made considerable advancements in the quality of patient care and gender confirmation surgical technique throughout the past several decades, which has led to a significant increase in patient satisfaction and overall physical and mental wellbeing. However, there are still several issues that remain to be addressed, many associated with excess paternalism by physicians and violations of patient autonomy. These problems can be mitigated by improving LGBTQ+ and transgender-related medical education for physicians, updating healthcare insurance coverage requirements to be more in line with current care standards, developing appropriate guidelines for lifelong primary care and geriatric care, and expanding the physician knowledge base beyond that of the assumed “standard” transgender patient to encompass a wider variety of identities, expressions, and histories