8,000 Brits got a huge surprise this Christmas when Doncaster Surgery sent them a text telling them they had terminal lung cancer with metastases.

I mean that's pretty heartless to text someone the news that they're dying.

But what's really bad is that an hour later, the surgery center texted again and said the previous text was a mistake; what they wanted to say was,

"We wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

Needless to say, the patients were unhappy.

One patient said that she

"felt sick to my teeth and broke down.

"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."

Another patient said,

"The first thing I thought was, 'is this some kind of sick joke?'" Mr Chegwin said.

"It completely took me by surprise... It's not often I go to the doctors, 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 they've got terminal lung cancer. They can't do that."

And then with a sobering thought, he added,

"What if that 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'?"

When the BBC reached out for comment, the group that runs the surgery center said nobody was available for comment.

All I can say is that whoever is in charge of the texting system is getting fired after the New Years.

Probably via text.