Two cancer patients die at Burgos Hospital due to 'human error' in preparing their drug treatment

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The hospital assumes "direct responsibility" for the failure, which also adversely affected three other patients

Gabriel de la Iglesia

Burgos

Wednesday, 14 January 2026, 11:37

Two patients undergoing treatment at the oncology unit of the University Hospital of Burgos (HUBU) have died due to a "human error" in the administration of a drug for their treatment, according to sources from the hospital.

Those same sources stated that, during the Christmas period, an error occurred in the administration of a drug that directly affected five patients. Two of them subsequently died, while the other three were adversely affected to varying degrees. Fortunately, one has since been discharged, another has been transferred to a regular ward, but the third, remains in the hospital's ICU.

Following these events, the hospital "takes direct responsibility" for the error, owning the oversight. In fact, as soon as the situation came to light, an internal investigation was launched to determine exactly what had happened, while also establishing "direct communication" with the families of the affected patients, as reported by local media in Burgos.

The hospital insists that this was a "one-off mistake", given that the drug had been prepared specifically only for the five affected patients, thus ruling out any impact on other patients.