 Fully autonomous decision-making seems to be bad for us sometimes in at least certain respects, say, when it involves tortuous deliberations, makes us more accountable for embarrassing mistakes, or invites social pressure to make certain choices (Dworkin 1988, ch. 5). The cost of ensuring that a single decision is absolutely autonomous may be a severe, permanent, or fatal health problem. This health problem will usually affect well-being more than a small marginal decrease of autonomy would—yet some informed consent requirements apply. Indeed, on no theory of  well-being—neither  desire satisfaction, hedonic state, nor objective list—does it seem to follow that either informed consent or autonomous choice invariably makes a patient’s life better (Buchanan and Brock 1989, ch. 1 §4, esp. p. 40). And if they did, then it would be absurd to claim, as proponents of the autonomy rationale do (Beauchamp and Childress 2008, e.g. pp. 12, 14), that informed consent and the principle of autonomy are distinct from, sometimes conflict with, and often supersede, the principle of beneficence.