An Atlanta mother says she underwent a complete hysterectomy after being mistakenly diagnosed with an aggressive cancer — only to later learn the life-altering surgery was never medically necessary because of an alleged lab mix-up, according to court filings.
Cassandra Barksdale, 43, was led to believe she may have only a few years to live after doctors gave her biopsy results that actually belonged to another patient, a lawsuit filed Tuesday and reviewed by The Post alleges.
Barksdale had gone to Kaiser Permanente Southwood Medical Center in Jonesboro, Georgia, in January to have uterine fibroids evaluated after she began experiencing bleeding.
Doctors performed a biopsy, but another patient’s tissue sample was allegedly mislabeled as Barksdale’s, according to the court documents.
By March 2025, Barksdale was told she had “high-grade, aggressive endometrial uterine cancer,” despite a later CT scan finding “no evidence of cancer or [the] spread of cancer,” the lawsuit states.
A physician then recommended a total hysterectomy, a major procedure that removed her cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Four lymph nodes were also taken out.
When pathology reports came back showing no cancer, doctors still advised Barksdale to begin chemotherapy, according to the complaint.
Then, in September 2025, doctors allegedly informed Barksdale that the cancerous tissue had belonged to someone else — a patient who, according to the lawsuit, may not have known they were living with the disease.
This was around four months after Barksdale was given the news she had cancer.
Barksdale alleged negligence and claimed she suffered “sustained, permanent and irreversible injuries,” and the plight has left her with a “fear of future medical treatment… and distrust.”
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“My sons went into a deep depression,” Barksdale revealed at a press conference Tuesday, describing the impact of her plight on her family.
“I had to contact my kids to let them know that I have five years to live and that I’m going to die because I have aggressive cancer.”
“I started contacting other attorneys to try to get trust funds so that way I could leave my house and have trust for my kids. It took a big hold over my family.”
She admitted that while relieved she didn’t have cancer, she experienced some mixed emotions.
“I was excited that I didn’t have cancer,” she said.
“But I was still upset because the person out there that got my tissue and was thinking that they only have fibroids, they’re walking around for seven months thinking they only have fibroids, and I was the one with the cancer.
“So it made me feel very, you know, I was very angry and sad, and I was very concerned about the other person.”
Barksdale’s lawyer, Roderick Edmond, was bewildered that the tissue mix-up occurred.
“We’ve got computers, we’ve got science, we’ve got AI, how the hell did this happen?” he told reporters.
Kaiser Permanente acknowledged the error.
“Ms. Barksdale should not have experienced this,” a spokesperson said.
“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.”
Barksdale is seeking $10,000 in damages and a jury trial.
