The Intersection of Human Rights and Medical Ethics in the Care of the Transgender Patient

While transgender and gender non-conforming identities have become more widely known and accepted over the last few decades, this is not a new phenomenon. While social and legal protections for transgender people are advancing in the United States, albeit slowly, continued political action is needed, both in the United States and internationally. Some of the most convincing arguments in favor of transgender rights come from the human rights perspective. While human rights arguments are persuasive and effective at galvanizing social action, they lack the practical applicability of some other approaches, and it falls to us to turn these hard-won social advances into concrete benefits. The medical ethics approach, using the principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice is suggested as a framework for which standards of care can be developed. This approach is then used to examine some specific ethical questions regarding medical care for these patients.