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Nurse–patient relationships are a substantially neglected area of empirical research, the more so in developing than developed countries. Although nursing discourse usually emphasises “caring”, nursing practice is often quite different and may be more strongly characterised by humiliation of patients and physical abuse. This paper explores the question: why do nurses abuse patients, through presentation and discussion of findings of research on health seeking practices in one part of the South African maternity services. The research was qualitative and based on 103 minimally structured in-depth individual interviews and four group discussions held with patients and staff in the services. Many of the patients reported clinical neglect, verbal and physical abuse from nursing staff which was at times reactive, and at others, ritualised, in nature. Although they explained nurses' treatment of them in terms of a few …