London.- A clinic in the north of England gave hundreds of patients a big scare by sending the message “diagnosis: aggressive lung cancer with metastases” instead of their Christmas wishes, The Sun newspaper reported.
On December 23, patients at this Askern health center, near the city of Doncaster, received a text message on their phones informing them of this diagnosis, asking them to fill in the appropriate forms and concluding: “Thank you.”
Twenty minutes later, another message followed to present “sincere apologies. This was sent to you in error. Our message should have been this: we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”
This mistake upset patients, some of whom posted a screenshot of the messages they received on the practice’s Facebook group, accompanied by a disapproving text.
“Another big mistake by failed doctors,” Carl Chegwin wrote.
According to The Sun, among the recipients of the message was Chris Reed, a 57-year-old father, who was waiting for test results to determine if he had lung cancer.
Reed told the tabloid that he tried to call the clinic, but the line was busy.
He visited the site and was assured that the tests were negative.
The incident occurs at a time of tension between the British and their “GP”, the health centers of the public system – where they are supposed to be controlled and treated for free – but in reality are overwhelmed after years of austerity.
