A medical practice in the United Kingdom accidentally told potentially thousands of its patients they had “aggressive lung cancer” two days before Christmas.
Askern Medical Practice in Doncaster sent a text message to its patients on the Friday before Christmas Eve telling each they had “aggressive lung cancer with metastases,” as well as sending them a link to a DS1500, a form that terminally ill people can fill out to receive certain benefits, according to BBC.
“Please accept our sincere apologies for the previous text message. 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,” the medical practice sent in a follow-up message. Both messages are believed to have been received by the practice’s nearly 8,000 patients.
Chris Reed was one patient who received that text and who was also awaiting lung cancer test results. He said the first message sent his partner into tears. He said he tried calling the doctor’s office, but could not get through the clogged phone lines.
“They went from, ‘You’ve got lung cancer’ to ‘Merry Christmas’ in about an hour. Unbelievable,” Reed told The Telegraph.
Sarah Hargreaves said she broke down after receiving the initial text. Hargreaves was waiting to hear back on tests being run on a mole removed from her back.
Hargreaves “felt sick to my teeth and broke down” when she received the mistaken diagnosis text, she told the BBC. “I had just had a mole removed and was awaiting a result from a biopsy and I had been to hospital as my smear test came back abnormal, so yes, I was very worried.”
Carl Chegwin told NPR that he and his mother were two of the patients to receive the texts. He said after realizing that multiple people had received the text, he began to wonder if it was “some sort of sick joke.” He said he would no longer be visiting Askern Medical Practice.
“It completely took me by surprise,” Chegwin told the BBC. “They’ve just told people a few days before Christmas they’ve got terminal lung cancer. They can’t do that.”
“What if the message was meant for someone, and then they are told it’s a Christmas message, then again told, ‘oh no, that was actually meant for you,’” he added. “If it’s one of their admins that’s sent out a mass text, I wouldn’t be trusting them to empty the bins.”