We have a philosopher friend who was quite ill and required surgery, but she was not ill enough to be admitted to hospital under the “life, limb, and organ preservation” guidelines that control surgical admissions. Her surgeon told her to go to emergency and gave her a list of symptoms to tell the physicians there. Those, he said, would get her a bed, and he would then come and perform the necessary surgery. And that is how our friend (who, ironically, taught ethics out of a textbook called Virtue and Vice in Everyday Life) got her surgery.We are grateful to Don Brown for extremely helpful comments and conversation on the philosophical matters of our paper and to Dan McDonald for stimulating discussion on the culture of healthcare providers.