Georgia woman says she was wrongly diagnosed with cancer and had
hysterectomy due to labeling error
[August 07, 2026]
By KIM CHANDLER and EMILIE MEGNIEN
ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta-area 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 Tuesday against
Kaiser Permanente alleging the mix-up led to the surgery and months of
physical and emotional pain.
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. In September, Barksdale was
informed that a DNA analysis found the tissue sample showing an
aggressive form of endometrial uterine cancer belonged to a different
patient and not to her, the lawsuit says.
“She came into Kaiser Permanente looking for answers, and she left with
a diagnosis that did not belong to her. And every step that was taken
after that was based off of misinformation,” her attorney Shannan Young
said.
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.
“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.
Representatives for Kaiser Permanente wrote in a statement that, “Ms.
Barksdale should not have experienced this.”
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Signs mark the exterior of Kaiser Permanente medical center in
Jonesboro, Ga., Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilie Megnien)
 “We have highly trained staff and
very thorough processes in place to prevent errors like this from
taking place. 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.”
Because of privacy laws, information about the other patient —
including what happened to her and whether cancer treatment was
delayed — isn’t publicly available.
It is not clear just how often pathology samples are mislabeled or
mixed-up during medical testing. An Ohio woman filed a similar
lawsuit saying a 2019 error on a biopsy led to a misdiagnosis of
lung cancer and unneeded surgery. Researchers studying prostate
cancer discovered three cases of biopsy sample misidentification
over two years, according to a 2011 research paper.
Labs have turned to a number of best practices to try and prevent
errors, including barcode systems for specimen labeling and
point-of-care testing.
The Georgia lawsuit asks for 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. But our justice system recognizes that when somebody’s
negligence harms another person, accountability requires more than
‘I’m sorry,'” Young said.
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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama.
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