What is autonomy?

My earlier question asking if autonomy is just for the natural birth crowd got sidetracked into arguments about the safety of home birth. Yawn. (Is anyone else ready to move on from these worn-out debates?)

Anyway, let's talk about what autonomy is and what it means in a healthcare context. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

Autonomy (Ancient Greek: αὐτονομία autonomia from αὐτόνομος autonomos from αὐτο- auto- "self" + νόμος nomos, "law" "one who gives oneself their own law") is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it refers to the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision. In moral and political philosophy, autonomy is often used as the basis for determining moral responsibility for one's actions. One of the best known philosophical theories of autonomy was developed by Kant. In medicine, respect for the autonomy of patients is an important goal as deontology, though it can conflict with a competing ethical principle, namely beneficence. Autonomy is also used to refer to the self-government of the people.

Let's take a look at the Patients' Bill of Rights adopted by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (emphasis mine):

All patients should be guaranteed the following freedoms:
To seek consultation with the physician(s) of their choice;
To contract with their physician(s) on mutually agreeable terms;
To be treated confidentially, with access to their records limited to those involved in their care or designated by the patient;
To use their own resources to purchase the care of their choice;
To refuse medical treatment even if it is recommended by their physician(s);
To be informed about their medical condition, the risks and benefits of treatment and appropriate alternatives;
To refuse third-party interference in their medical care, and to be confident that their actions in seeking or declining medical care will not result in third-party-imposed penalties for patients or physicians;
To receive full disclosure of their insurance plan in plain language...

In a healthcare context, autonomy means being informed about the full range of risks, benefits, and alternatives of a proposed treatment (informed consent), and having the ability to accept or reject the treatment (right to refuse). Or for you math geeks:

autonomy = informed consent + right to refuse

While patients have the right to refuse treatment, they do not necessarily have the right to demand medically unnecessary treatments. For example, if your leg is injured and your physician recommends amputation, you have the right to refuse. However, you do not have the right to demand an amputation of a healthy limb. 

In maternity care, the right to refuse and inability to demand are not always consistently applied. Women are often not allowed to refuse certain treatments, such as repeat cesarean section or IV therapy. On the other hand, many women are able to demand medically unnecessary treatments, such as elective primary cesarean or elective induction. This inconsistent application of autonomy and patients' rights has emerged from cultural beliefs in the inherent risk of labor and inherent safety of medical intervention and from concerns about litigation and liability. 

So I ask again: is the desire for autonomy really a frivolous, selfish concern at best, and a potentially dangerous doctrine at worst, as implied by more than one commenter?