Black Patient Says Doctor's Office Labeled Her Sample Bottle "King Kong"

Racism remains rampant in the United States, despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing discrimination based on race, whether people want to acknowledge it or not. And you can bet TikTok user @kierraking616 will call it out when she sees it.

That’s exactly what happened when she visited Perlman Clinic in California and noticed that the label on her sample didn’t say her name, "Kierra King," but instead read "King Kong." As a Black woman, she confronted the nurses, explaining to them (and viewers as she shared the experience on TikTok) exactly why she had a problem with it. Here’s what happened.

When TikToker Kierra King went to Perlman Clinic in San Diego, based on the location she tagged in her TikTok, the last thing she expected was to encounter a racist moment.

Kierra says she was handed a bottle to provide a sample, but when she looked at the label, she realized it read "King Kong" instead of Kierra King.

She immediately brought the mislabeled bottle to a nurse’s attention. The nurse seemed surprised, saying, "Oh my God, I'm sorry," and assured her she would try to get to the bottom of it, though she couldn’t explain why it said that in the first place.

"As a Black woman, you understand why I would have a problem with that," Kierra told the nurse. That nurse and the one responsible for the label later returned to the room to discuss the incident further.

The nurse insisted, "It wasn't really my intention to put your name like that." They then reviewed what happened before the incorrect label was noticed. Kierra and the nurse agreed that the nurse had asked if she had provided a sample like this before, to which Kierra responded yes.

The nurse then mentioned something about double-checking the name on the bottle, except Kierra called BS, saying they never reviewed the label together, and she only realized later that her sample bottle had been labeled "King Kong."

While the nurse repeatedly claimed it was an unintentional error, Kierra wasn’t buying it, saying it seemed far-fetched for something like that to be a typo. The nurse defended herself, saying she types really fast and must have made the mistake that way.

Sure, typos happen, but in the healthcare industry, mistakes like these can have serious consequences. A simple slip-up could mean a patient is misdiagnosed, given the wrong dosage of medication, or flagged with an allergy they don’t even have. Imagine how dangerous that could be, all because someone was typing too fast.

Clearly, the incident struck a nerve, not only with Kierra, but with millions of people as her video, which tagged Perlman Clinic, racked up over 1 million likes and 141,000 shares.

By the end of the clip, Kierra was fed up with the nurse changing her story and simply asked for her name so she could report her. She later posted an update, saying she had contacted multiple agencies to report the incident and is using her platform to advocate for Black women, and for all women.