Recently I have been reading a fascinating book called A Flourishing Practice? by Peter Toon, published by the Royal College of General Practitioners, which is an attempt to apply the “virtue ethics” of Alasdair MacIntyre to the NHS, both structurally and personally in the sense of enquiring about what would make a “virtuous” doctor. (More than reading actually – I wrote a preface for it. Dr Toon is not only a friend; he was once my family GP.) It is an illuminating and helpful book, but I am writing about it here because it really made me think about something I have never even considered before – am I virtuous patient? What would a virtuous patient be?It is curious that this question does not come up more often – and I suspect the reason why it