Ohio Woman Sues Hospital After They Amputate ‘Wrong Leg’

An Ohio woman says she went into a hospital expecting surgeons to remove her cancer-stricken right leg — only to wake up and discover that her left leg had been amputated instead.

Now, 74-year-old Sharon Jacks is suing Selby General Hospital and members of her medical team over the devastating September 2025 surgery that ultimately left her a double amputee.

Jacks and her husband, Dannie Jacks, filed a 32-page lawsuit this month in Washington County, Ohio, accusing the hospital and several medical professionals of gross negligence, battery and reckless conduct.

According to the lawsuit, Jacks had agreed to have her lower right leg removed after doctors recommended the procedure as part of her treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.

She underwent surgery at Selby General Hospital in Marietta on Sept. 19, 2025.

But the lawsuit alleges surgeons removed her lower left leg instead.

Jacks’ attorney, Brad Layne, said his client had consented only to surgery on her right leg and never authorized doctors to amputate her left.

Even more troubling, according to Layne, medical records indicate that the correct leg had been marked before surgery.

“The surgeon actually marked the correct leg pre-surgery,” Layne told an Ohio television station. He said the marking was reportedly still visible on the right leg after the operation on the left leg had already been completed.

The lawsuit alleges there were multiple opportunities for members of the surgical team to recognize that something was wrong before the amputation took place.

Medical records also reportedly show that the surgical team conducted two safety “time-outs” before proceeding.

Those pauses are intended to be one of the final safeguards against exactly this type of mistake.

Before major procedures, surgical teams generally verify the patient’s identity, the planned procedure and the correct location on the body. The Joint Commission, which establishes widely used hospital safety standards, requires a final time-out immediately before an incision with active participation from members of the surgical team.

Procedures involving two possible sides of the body — including operations involving arms and legs — are also among those for which marking the surgical site is especially important.

Despite those safeguards, Jacks’ lawsuit says her left leg was amputated.

The complaint describes what happened as a fundamental breakdown of basic patient-safety procedures.

Four months later, Jacks still required the operation that had originally been planned.

Her right leg was amputated at another Ohio medical facility, according to her attorney, leaving the 74-year-old without either lower leg.

The lawsuit says Jacks has endured permanent disability, physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation, medical expenses and a loss of enjoyment of life as a result.

Selby General Hospital, which is part of Memorial Health System, has since acknowledged that a serious surgical error occurred.

The hospital said an internal review determined the incident was avoidable and that its expected operating-room procedures had not been followed.

Hospital officials also said the employees involved were held accountable and are no longer in their positions.

Following the incident, the hospital said it reviewed its safety procedures and protocols with partners at the Mayo Clinic and cooperated with an Ohio Department of Health review.

According to the hospital, additional corrective measures were put in place, including mandatory retraining for surgical employees and additional requirements designed to reinforce existing patient-safety procedures.

The hospital said its protocols were subsequently determined to be consistent with accepted safety standards.

“We are saddened by what occurred, and our team continues to keep this patient and their family in our prayers,” the hospital said in its statement.

Wrong-site operations are considered among the most serious preventable medical errors.

The Joint Commission categorizes surgery performed on the wrong body part, wrong patient or involving the wrong procedure as a sentinel event — an incident serious enough to require investigation and efforts to prevent it from happening again.

The organization has required accredited hospitals for years to use safeguards designed specifically to prevent such errors, including verifying the planned procedure, marking the correct surgical site and conducting a final time-out before surgery begins.

Jacks’ lawsuit argues that those safeguards failed despite allegedly being documented in her medical records.

Her attorneys are seeking compensatory damages for her injuries and losses as well as punitive damages. The amount being sought has not been publicly specified.

The allegations will now move through the court system, where the defendants will have an opportunity to respond to the claims against them.

For Jacks, however, the physical consequences cannot be reversed.

She entered the hospital in September 2025 expecting to lose one leg as part of her cancer treatment. According to her lawsuit and the hospital’s own acknowledgment of an avoidable surgical event, she ultimately lost both.