A 43-year-old woman from the Atlanta area is suing Kaiser Permanente, alleging that a labeling error caused her to be wrongly diagnosed with cancer and undergo an unneeded hysterectomy.

Cassandra Barksdale and her legal team filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, claiming that the mix-up led to irreversible surgery and months of physical and emotional suffering.

According to the complaint, tissue from another patient was mistakenly labeled as Barksdale's. Believing the results, Barksdale underwent a full hysterectomy on May 15, 2025, and was subsequently told she would receive chemotherapy instructions.

The exact cause of the labeling error remains unclear. In September, Barksdale was notified that a DNA analysis had confirmed the tissue sample — which showed an aggressive form of endometrial uterine cancer — actually belonged to a different patient.

"She came into Kaiser Permanente looking for answers, and she left with a diagnosis that did not belong to her," said her attorney, Shannan Young. "And every step that was taken after that was based off of misinformation."

Barksdale initially visited Kaiser Permanente Southwood Medical Center in Jonesboro, Georgia, in early 2025 seeking treatment for heavy bleeding and fibroids, which are noncancerous growths in and around the uterus. A biopsy was performed on March 10, 2025.

After receiving the results on March 17, 2025, Barksdale said she spent months believing she had an aggressive form of cancer, a period she described as deeply distressing for herself and her sons.

"I even started making funeral plans with them to let them know, you know, if I don't make it out, this is what I want done," Barksdale said.

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente representatives acknowledged the error: "Ms. Barksdale should not have experienced this."

"We have highly trained staff and very thorough processes in place to prevent errors like this from taking place," the statement continued. "After this occurred last year, we took immediate steps to ensure it could not happen again. We realize the impact of this incident and are committed to working with Ms. Barksdale and her counsel to resolve this in the most fair and accountable way we can."

Due to patient privacy laws, no information about the other patient — including whether her cancer treatment was delayed — has been made publicly available.

The frequency of pathology sample mix-ups in medical testing is not well documented. An Ohio woman filed a similar lawsuit after a 2019 biopsy error led to a lung cancer misdiagnosis and unnecessary surgery. A 2011 research paper on prostate cancer identified three cases of biopsy sample misidentification over a two-year period.

Laboratories in the United States operate under federal standards set by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), which establish quality requirements for all human testing, including specimen handling and identification. Accrediting bodies such as the College of American Pathologists (CAP) maintain additional specimen-identification requirements, and laboratories have adopted various preventive measures including barcode-based specimen labeling systems and point-of-care testing protocols.

The case also underscores the role of second opinions in confirming serious diagnoses before major surgical procedures. Medical organizations including the American Cancer Society have long recommended that patients seek a second pathology review when facing a cancer diagnosis, particularly before undergoing irreversible treatment.

The Georgia lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

"There's no amount of money that's going to return back to her, her healthy organs, or erase the experiences and the pain that she's had," Young said. "But our justice system recognizes that when somebody's negligence harms another person, accountability requires more than 'I'm sorry.'"

Source: Fortune