A Georgia woman alleges that she was wrongly diagnosed with cancer and underwent an unneeded hysterectomy because of a labeling error. Cassandra Barksdale and her attorneys filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente alleging the mix-up led to the surgery and months of physical and emotional pain.

Labeling Error Leads to Unneeded Surgery

According to the lawsuit, another patient’s tissue sample was mistakenly labeled as belonging to Barksdale, who at age 43 then underwent a full hysterectomy on May 15, 2025, and was told she would get instructions about chemotherapy. It’s unclear how the mix-up occurred.

Barksdale went to Kaiser Permanente Southwood Medical Center in Jonesboro, Georgia, in early 2025 to seek treatment for heavy bleeding and fibroids, which are noncancerous growths in and around the uterus. She underwent a biopsy on March 10, 2025.

Barksdale said that after she got the biopsy results on March 17, 2025, she lived for months believing she had an aggressive type of cancer, sending her and her sons into a deep depression. Representatives for Kaiser Permanente wrote in a statement that, ‘Ms. Barksdale should not have experienced this.’ The Georgia lawsuit asks for unspecified damages.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.