Atlanta Mom Sues Kaiser Permanente Over Unneeded Hysterectomy
The call that changed Cassandra Barksdale’s life was supposed to help her address a health concern. The Atlanta-area mother had gone to the doctor seeking care for bleeding and uterine fibroids. Instead, she was told she had an aggressive form of endometrial cancer, according to a lawsuit she filed this week.
After the terrifying diagnosis, Barksdale began preparing for the possibility that she might not be there to watch her children grow up. According to the legal filing, she shared the devastating news with her family, and her sons feared they could lose their mother.
“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, according to the Associated Press.
But the cancer diagnosis was not hers. And after the emotional, physical and mental rollercoaster, Barksdale wants justice and accountability.
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She filed a lawsuit alleging that a laboratory error by Kaiser Permanente caused another patient’s tissue sample to be mislabeled as Barksdale’s. It’s unclear what happened to the patient who actually had the cancerous tissue. But those testing results were the basis for a doctor’s recommendation that Barksdale undergo a full hysterectomy, 11 Alive reported.
In May 2025, Barksdale underwent surgery that removed her uterus, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes and lymph nodes, according to PEOPLE.
The pathology results showed no cancer was present in the removed tissue. And months later, DNA analysis reportedly revealed that the original cancer sample belonged to another patient, PEOPLE reported. Barksdale says she was left dealing with the physical consequences of a surgery she believes she never needed, including the loss of reproductive organs and the impact of early menopause, along with lasting emotional trauma.
“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.
Kaiser Permanente has acknowledged the error and apologized. “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,” a representative for the company told AP News. “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.”
Barksdale’s story also lands in a larger conversation about who bears the greatest risks when healthcare systems fail. Women have historically faced dismissal of symptoms and delays in diagnosis, while racial disparities have contributed to Black patients experiencing unequal treatment and outcomes across medicine.
Across healthcare systems, women and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by diagnostic errors, with a study from KFF Health showing they are 20% to 30% more likely than white men to receive a misdiagnosis. In some cases, biases and failures within the medical system can prove fatal for Black women.
For Barksdale, a technical mistake turned into a life-altering consequence. “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,” attorney Young said. “But our justice system recognizes that when somebody’s negligence harms another person, accountability requires more than ‘I’m sorry.’”
