A hospital in England accidentally sent hundreds of patients a text message saying they have "aggressive lung cancer" instead of wishing them a "Merry Christmas" from general practitioners, according to the BBC.
The bulk text messages, which were sent on December 23, gave patients at Askern Medical Center in South Yorkshire, Doncaster, a false diagnosis, the news outlet reported.
The text messages prompted the patients to complete a DS-1500 form, which enables persons with terminal illnesses to apply for certain benefits, and stated that the patients have "aggressive lung cancer with metastases."
After an hour later, a follow-up text was sent by Askern Medical Practice saying, "Please accept our sincere apologies for the previous text message sent."
"This has been sent in error. Our message to you should have read: "We wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New year." "In an emergency, please call NHS 111 or email no-reply.text@nhs.net."
A patient named Carl Chegwin told BBC: "The first thing I thought was, 'is this some kind of sick joke?'.It completely took me by surprise... It's not often I go to the doctor, then out of the blue, it's cancer. I'm sat there scratching my head thinking, 'I do smoke, do they know something I don't?'"
"They've just told people a few days before Christmas that they've got terminal lung cancer. They can't do that."
According to The Independent, Chris Reed, a 58-year-old Norton property developer, claimed that his partner sobbed when he received the message. Mr. Reed claimed that he attempted to contact the surgery right away but was unsuccessful due to busy lines.
