Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/askern...ssive-lung-cancer-instead-of-merry-christmas/
U.K. medical practice mistakenly texts patients they have "aggressive lung cancer" instead of wishing them a merry Christmas
By Li Cohen
December 29, 2022 / 10:59 AM / CBS News
A medical practice in England intended to text its patients wishes for a "very merry Christmas." Instead, the mass text told patients they had "aggressive lung cancer" that had spread and asked them to fill out a form for terminal patients.
...
Carl Chegwin told the BBC that his mother was one of the patients who received the text.
"The first thing I thought was, 'is this some kind of sick joke?" Chegwin said. "It completely took me by surprise. ... They've just told people a few days before Christmas they've got terminal lung cancer. They can't do that."
Another woman who asked not to be named told the outlet that the text made her "very worried," as some of her family members had recently undergone tests for chest issues. She also saw several other people panicking about the message.
"I rang the doctors but on hold as usual. So I walked round as I live around the corner and there were, I'd say, six people all there panicking as they had got the same text," she said.
The National Health Service of the U.K., which oversees publicly funded health care, has also not commented on the situation. The same day the texts went out, the service unrelatedly tweeted, "Be kind to yourself if you are grieving," alongside information about how to cope with grief during the holiday season. ..
U.K. medical practice mistakenly texts patients they have "aggressive lung cancer" instead of wishing them a merry Christmas
By Li Cohen
December 29, 2022 / 10:59 AM / CBS News
A medical practice in England intended to text its patients wishes for a "very merry Christmas." Instead, the mass text told patients they had "aggressive lung cancer" that had spread and asked them to fill out a form for terminal patients.
...
Carl Chegwin told the BBC that his mother was one of the patients who received the text.
"The first thing I thought was, 'is this some kind of sick joke?" Chegwin said. "It completely took me by surprise. ... They've just told people a few days before Christmas they've got terminal lung cancer. They can't do that."
Another woman who asked not to be named told the outlet that the text made her "very worried," as some of her family members had recently undergone tests for chest issues. She also saw several other people panicking about the message.
"I rang the doctors but on hold as usual. So I walked round as I live around the corner and there were, I'd say, six people all there panicking as they had got the same text," she said.
The National Health Service of the U.K., which oversees publicly funded health care, has also not commented on the situation. The same day the texts went out, the service unrelatedly tweeted, "Be kind to yourself if you are grieving," alongside information about how to cope with grief during the holiday season. ..