Did Bioethics Matter? A History of Autonomy, Consent, and Intersex Genital Surgery

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that the rise of bioethics in the post-WWII era and the emergence of the legal doctrine of informed consent in the late 1950s should have had a greater impact on patients with intersex traits (atypical sex development) than they did, given their emphasis on respect for autonomy and beneficence toward patients. Instead, these progressive trends collided with a turn in intersex management toward infants, who were unable to provide autonomous consent about their medical care. Patient autonomy took a back seat as parents heeded physicians’ advice in an environment even more hierarchical than we know today. Intersex care of both infants and adults continues to need improvement. It remains an open question whether the abstract ideals of bioethics—respect, patient autonomy, and the requirement of informed consent—are alone adequate to secure that improvement, or whether legal actions (or the threat of litigation) or some other reforms will be required to effect such change.