ok, not trying to be a "devil's advocate" here, but maybe a thought: I spend all day chasing down elusive invoices, my throat hurts, but there's no time to think about it, as I have a boss yelling in one ear and an upset customer screaming over the phone in the other. I go home, take a hot shower, which helps the throat a bit, then have some dinner and go to bed. At 2 a.m., all the adrenaline has finally burned off, and now my throat hurts like someone has shoved a red-hot poker down it. Granted, it's inconvenient for y'all - and yes, it's not technically an "emergency" in medical terms - but I'm going to have to pull on my pantyhose and go face the music again in a few hours, my throat feels like it is on fire, I can't sleep and my powers of rational thought have compressed to the size of a shrivveled pea - and I NEED DRUGS.. NOW!! My point is that maybe sometimes pain that can be accomodated during hectic busy lives becomes unbearable at 2 a.m. when all the good telly programmes are over - and so you get called?