09/03/2026
Informed consent gets mentioned constantly and explained almost never, so here is the plain version.
Under an informed consent model you do not need a letter from a therapist vouching for you in order to start HRT. Instead you and a provider go through what the medication does and what monitoring goes along with it, risks included. You ask questions until you are satisfied. Then you decide.
That is the whole model. The word doing the work is "informed." The assumption is that a trans adult who understands their options is capable of choosing between them, which is the same assumption medicine makes about every other adult patient.
Worth knowing what it replaced, because plenty of people still walk in braced for the old version. The gatekeeping model wanted a mental health letter confirming you were sufficiently trans, and people lost years and real money collecting one π
https://hrtathome.org/blog/informed-consent-hrt-explained