Ohio woman sues hospital for allegedly amputating wrong leg during surgery | Ohio

An Ohio woman is suing a hospital after doctors allegedly amputated her wrong leg during a scheduled operation last year.

Sharon Jacks, 74, of Meigs County, alleged she went to Selby General Hospital in September 2025 to undergo a planned below-the-knee amputation of her right leg. Instead, doctors removed his left leg during the procedure, according to the complaint filed earlier this month in Washington County Court in Marietta, where the hospital is based.

His attorney, Brad Layne, said the mistake ultimately left Jacks, an Army veteran, a double amputee after doctors at another Ohio hospital had to remove the right leg four months later.

According to the 32-page complaint, Jacks “suffered physical injuries, permanent disability, pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses and other damages.”

Jacks and her husband named nine defendants in the lawsuit, including the hospital and Jacks’ medical and surgical teams, accusing them of gross negligence, battery and reckless driving.

“Defendants acted willfully, wantonly, recklessly, maliciously, and with conscious disregard for the substantial certainty of catastrophic harm,” the complaint alleges.

The amputation of Jacks’ right lower leg was recommended as part of a treatment plan for a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, according to the lawsuit, and she “only consented to surgery involving her right lower extremity” and “never consented to the amputation of her left lower extremity.”

According to the complaint, medical records show the surgical team conducted two “timeouts” before the procedure. In surgery, these pauses are supposed to be used to confirm the identity of the patient, the planned procedure and the correct surgical site. But “despite multiple opportunities…to identify and correct the error,” the team proceeded to amputate the wrong leg, it is claimed.

“Performing surgery on the wrong extremity constitutes a complete failure of basic safety procedures,” the lawsuit states.

In a statement to WBNS-TV, the hospital acknowledged that “this was a preventable event and planned operating room procedures were not followed.”

The statement added: “Those involved have been held accountable for their actions and are no longer in their positions.

“We are saddened by what happened and our team continues to keep this patient and his family in our prayers. »

The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of Jacks.