Ohio Hospital Faces Wrong-Site Surgery Lawsuit

Doctor and nurse walking in a hospital corridor reviewing a tablet — Photo: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock

A lawsuit says a hospital cut off the wrong leg, then later removed the right one too — a mistake that should never happen.

Story Snapshot

A 32-page complaint says surgeons amputated Sharon Jacks’ left leg instead of the right in 2025.
Her lawyer says the right leg was marked correctly before surgery, yet the wrong limb was taken.
Reports say two “timeouts” meant to prevent errors still failed to stop the mistake.
The hospital said procedures were not followed and staff were dismissed after the event.

What The Lawsuit Alleges Happened In The Operating Room

Sharon Jacks filed a 32-page complaint in Washington County, Ohio, saying her medical team amputated her left leg when the plan was to remove the right lower leg in September 2025. Her attorney says the surgeon marked the right leg before surgery, and that mark was still on the correct leg after the wrong one was removed. The filing says the team prepped, draped, and placed a tourniquet on the wrong limb before cutting, missing several chances to stop the error.

The complaint says the team ran two surgical “timeouts,” the pause where staff confirm the patient, procedure, and site, yet the operation still went forward on the wrong side. After the wrong-leg amputation, Jacks later had her right leg removed as well, leaving her a double amputee, according to multiple reports that summarized the complaint. The suit names the hospital, the surgeon, and members of the surgical team and seeks compensatory and punitive damages for lasting harm.

How The Hospital Responded And What We Know

Selby General Hospital said an adverse surgical event occurred in September 2025, called it avoidable, and said expected operating room procedures were not followed. The hospital said involved staff were no longer in their positions and that its protocols had been reviewed by Mayo Clinic and the Ohio Department of Health. Public reports rely mostly on the complaint and attorney statements. Detailed medical charts and the full internal review have not been released in the cited coverage.

Wrong-site surgery is considered a “never event,” meaning it should not happen when basic safety steps are followed. National patient safety guidance estimates such errors occur about once in every 112,000 procedures, rare for any one hospital but devastating when they occur. Research ties these failures to communication breakdowns, documentation errors, missed or rushed timeouts, and not checking the surgical site marking with the consent form and chart before the first cut.

Why This Case Resonates Beyond One Operating Room

This case speaks to a shared fear across politics: large systems miss simple checks and regular people pay the price. Families trust hospitals to follow checklists that prevent the most basic mistake — the wrong body part. When a patient loses both legs after an error, it shakes faith in institutions that claim strong safeguards. That concern is not left or right. It is about whether leaders enforce standards with real accountability when the cost of failure is permanent.

This poor woman is Sharon Jacks and she lives in Washington County, Ohio.

She went into surgery for a lower-right-leg amputation due to cancer found there.

The lawsuit says the team prepped the wrong leg, put the tourniquet on the wrong thigh, ran two required time-outs to… pic.twitter.com/eD4b0u9Fok

— My moms caregiver (@mymomcare) September 29, 2026

For patients, the lesson is simple and hard at once: speak up and verify. Before anesthesia, ask the team to confirm your name, the exact procedure, and the side and site in plain language. Point to the limb or location and match it to the consent form. For hospitals, this suit is a warning. Checklists only work when culture makes them non‑negotiable. Rushing, deference to status, and poor communication can turn a rare risk into a life‑altering harm.