RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Storying, fiction and philosophy: turning our attention to the traumatised or damaged nurse JF Medical Humanities JO J Med Humanit FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 26 OP 30 DO 10.1136/medhum-2015-010743 VO 42 IS 1 A1 Mark Radcliffe YR 2016 UL http://mh.bmj.com/content/42/1/26.abstract AB The Francis Report, the result of a UK public inquiry into ongoing mistreatment of patients at a large teaching hospital, revealed deep-rooted flaws in care delivery and professional performance. It led to regulatory review, policy initiatives and public outcry. To this point, it has not led to any extended or focused discussion on the sustenance or well-being of nurses so that we might avoid it happening again. This paper emerges from the writing and publication of a novel called Stranger Than Kindness and a subsequent PhD. The novel explored the themes of damaged or hurt healthcare professionals and their attempts at restoration or in one case, redemption. The paper uses the novel as ‘data’ for an articulation of the emotional world of (some) nurses and imports three theoretical perspectives; McGilchrist's work on the divided brain, Damasio's work on emotion and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology to support an emerging philosophical position of embodied cognition.