Is informed choice an illusion?

Tannice Hemming introduces Am I Allowed: Your Body, Your Baby, Your Choice with Episode One: Is Informed Choice an Illusion?

Using examples from her five pregnancies and three births in 2016, 2018 and 2020, Tannice talks about the concept of informed choice and why it’s so crucial within maternity care. This introduction to her six-part series on informed consent, decision-making, advocating for yourself and evidence-gathering discusses important concepts including

shared decision making, clinician-service user power imbalance, information presentation, and the influence of attitudes and values

Introducing the concept of falsification, based on the work of scientific philosopher Karl Popper, Tannice also discusses the varied influences on the choices of women and birthing people, discussing the pitfalls of solely using other people’s experiences to influence your decision making.

For a quick guide to the concept of falsification, watch this Radio 4 video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf-sGqBsWv4