''She felt well. She was a beautiful and healthy woman,'' said Flores, looking at recent pictures of her sister. ``What they did to her was a crime.''

Gutiérrez, 56, was one of 11 cancer patients who died suddenly in June at the municipal hospital in Morón, in the central province of Ciego de Avila, as a consequence of alleged medical negligence in the use of serums for chemotherapy.

According to testimony from medical sources, relatives of the deceased and residents of Morón, the deaths occurred during the first three weeks of June, after numerous patients at Roberto Rodríguez Hospital were treated with a defective cytostatic serum. Cytostatic medications combat the growth of tumors.

''There was a serious problem with the chemotherapy serums being applied, and deaths occurred due to effects collateral to the treatment,'' a doctor at the hospital told El Nuevo Herald, on condition of anonymity.

The doctor declined to confirm a version that alleged that the cytostatic serum given to the patients had expired. ''The affair is under investigation,'' he said.

But two other hospital employees and relatives of the deceased, in Morón and Miami, said the chemotherapy serums came from international donations and bore old expiration dates.

''Treatment with expired cytostatics becomes ineffective in the battle against cancer and can bring about a serious toxic reaction,'' said a medical assistant at the hospital. ``Everything indicates that in those cases the collateral effects and the complications produced by the medicine had deadly consequences.''

The deaths have not been reported in Cuba's official media but are well known among the people of Morón, a city with a population of 63,000 about 280 miles east of Havana.

During a telephone call last week to the municipal offices of the Ministry of Public Health, a secretary who declined to identify herself acknowledged that ''there have been some difficulties at the hospital'' but did not give details about the deaths.

Residents of Morón reached by phone say the events have caused some outrage and intervention by municipal and Communist Party leaders.

''I know that there have been several meetings between the Party and the people from Public Health,'' said María Julia Esteban, a resident of Morón . ``It seems that several male nurses and doctors were disciplined because of the problem.''

Meanwhile in Miami Lakes, Flores struggles to accept the tragic death of Gutiérrez, her only sister, and repeatedly goes over the details of the incident.

Gutiérrez underwent breast surgery in March. The operation was a success and she was prescribed cytostatic treatment beginning in May. After the second application of serum, she had to be returned immediately to the hospital, where other patients were being readmitted because of severe reactions to the chemotherapy.

Gutiérrez died June 7 and was buried three days later at Morón Cemetery.

''They gave her the serum, and three days later her mouth began to break out. She was rushed to the hospital, suffered convulsions and died of internal hemorrhage,'' Flores said.

''My brother-in-law is crushed,'' said Flores, who emigrated from Cuba in 1967. ``He can't understand what happened and has complained to the government authoritiesBut everybody [in Morón] fears to speak out and complain about what has happened to their relatives.''

Link to Story: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/1131904.html