Over the last decades, medical paternalism has been rejected in favor of the patient’s right to self-determination and, by extension, to his/her right to consent or refuse care offered to him/her. In the clinical setting, the obligation to inform the user and to obtain his/her free and informed consent about such care is widely recognized, but rarely problematized. The aim of this paper is to analyze the construct of “consent to care” and the different conceptualizations of autonomy that are part of this juridical vehicle. A socio-legal analysis was conducted through a narrative review of literature relative to the nursing sciences, the humanities, philosophy and bioethics, as well as legal sciences. Although obtaining consent is often approached as a formality, this process is situated at the intersection of an interface that is both relational and personal. This perspective requires recognition of the intersubjective process that takes place between the user and the clinician, and of the negotiating space in which they are both situated. Finally, we suggest that further research addressing this phenomenon be developed, and that actor-network theories represent a potential epistemological perspective for doing so.