Professional Guideline for Gender Reassignment of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. Ethical and Legal Aspects

Abstract

The article describes reactions to the Professional Guidelines of the Ministry of Health of Slovak Republic to Unification of Medical Therapy by Sex-Change from April 2022, analyzes it from the perspective of medical ethics and law, and compares it with the Recommendations of Process of Therapy by Gender-dysphoria, resp. Transsexualism (2017) in Austria. From the perspective of medical ethics, the Guidelines strengthen the principle of autonomy and self-determination, and protects the aspect of beneficence and nonmaleficence on the side of a transgender person. The ethical principle of justice is relevant on the level of non-discrimination and humanization of institutions. An ethical dilemma in the Guidelines remains on the level of protection of the responsibility of therapist and medical doctor.