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Public health is increasingly preoccupied with individual behaviours. More and more actions are aimed at fostering “virtuous conduct” and transforming behaviours. While these policies are claimed to be ethically justified as serving the population’s “well-being”, they are also criticized for being normative, and some researchers have described public health as an endeavour to moralize health behaviours. Based on observations and interviews in the context of cancer patient care, this article considers the practical consequences of health morality in oncology. Specifically, it examines patients’ and caregivers’ attitude to “best practice” standards in individual health management and how these standards translate into the care given to ailing bodies.