US woman says she had hysterectomy after she got someone else’s cancer diagnosis

A US woman from the Atlanta area is alleging that she was wrongly diagnosed with cancer and underwent an unneeded hysterectomy because of a labelling error.

Cassandra Barksdale and her lawyers filed a lawsuit on 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 labelled 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 is 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 lawyer Shannan Young said.

Barksdale went to Kaiser Permanente Southwood Medical Centre 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.