UK hospital mistakenly texts patients they have cancer instead of ‘Merry Christmas’

The text messages were sent to the patients at Askern Medical Center in South Yorkshire, Doncaster on December 23. Patients were also asked to fill out a DS-1500 form, which is necessary for terminally ill people to apply for some benefits.

London: A hospital in the UK accidentally texted patients mass “aggressive lung cancer” messages instead of extending them their intended “Merry Christmas” greetings, CBS News reported.

The text messages were sent to the patients at Askern Medical Center in South Yorkshire, Doncaster on December 23. Patients were also asked to fill out a DS-1500 form, which is necessary for terminally ill people to apply for some benefits.

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After sending the wrong message, Askern Medical Center apologised to the patients via a follow-up text, the CBS News reported, citing the BBC.

“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 case of emergency please contact NHS 111 no-reply.text@nhs.net,” the hospital said.

Netizens on Twitter called out the hospital for panicking the patients.

“Even if the text was meant for a single patient, what kind of hospital would inform someone about something like this via a text message?” a social media user tweeted.

“Horrible. How someone can ever make a mistake like this?” another one wrote.

The center has not publicly commented on the mishap yet. The National Health Service of the U.K., which oversees publicly funded health care, has also not commented on the situation.