(Reuters) It is the news no woman wants to hear: You have breast cancer.

That was the diagnosis for Darrie Eason, a 35-year old single mother from Long Island, New York.

Eason had both of her breasts surgically removed, only to hear the unthinkable: She never had cancer.

"All the things that I had gone through with my family, my child...it was unnecessary," said Ms Eason.

According to the New York Health Department, Eason's misdiagnosis was the result of a laboratory error.

The state says the technician who handled her biopsy cut corners and mixed up two specimens.

Eason's lawyer, Steve Pegalis, says his client was told she had cancer, while another woman was told she did not.

"This other young woman has to live with the idea that she has breast cancer and hers was not diagnosed at the earliest possible time," said Mr Pegalis.

Now, Eason is suing the laboratory. "Something should have been done to tell me that there wasn't anything wrong with me before I had a radical double mastectomy," she said.

For years, women have been urged to seek second opinions and to have their lab results rechecked. But that is little comfort for Eason, who now has to live the rest of her life with an irreversible mistake.