An Ohio cancer patient scheduled for a right-leg amputation woke up missing her left leg instead, then lost the correct one too, a lawsuit alleges.
Sharon Jacks entered Selby General Hospital in Marietta, Ohio, on Sept. 19, 2025, for a planned below-the-knee amputation of her right leg. The New York Post reported that she woke from surgery with her left leg gone.
Doctors later removed the leg that had been scheduled for amputation in the first place. Jacks was left a double amputee. She has sued her surgeon, other members of the surgical team, and the hospital over what her lawyer calls a failure that should never have happened.
Wrong-site surgery is known across health care as a “never event”, a mistake the industry treats as preventable by basic safeguards. Jacks’ complaint says those safeguards were on the books and still did not stop the cut.
Medical records reviewed by Jacks’ attorney show the surgeon marked the correct leg before the operation. The lawsuit also says the team ran two surgical “time-outs” before incision. Those pauses exist to confirm the patient’s identity, the planned procedure, and the correct site.
Attorney Brad Layne says the mark was still on the right leg after the wrong one had already been removed.
Layne told reporters the outcome left no room for soft language.
"She went into surgery, and when she woke up, the wrong leg had been taken off. It defies explanation, obviously."
In a press release, he said there is “simply no excuse” for what happened to his client and described a “complete and total failure by multiple medical professionals.”
Layne argued the team had repeated chances to stop and still pressed ahead on the wrong limb.
"Despite several opportunities to identify the mistake and stop the procedure, the surgical team somehow never noticed they were operating on the wrong leg."
He added that responsibility ran through the entire operating room, surgeon, nurses, staff, and anesthesiologist alike, because each person is supposed to verify the site before anyone cuts.
"The records say that happened twice, but somehow Ms. Jacks is missing a leg that should have not been removed."
Jacks filed a 32-page complaint on Sept. 15 against the surgeon, other surgical team members, and Selby General Hospital. The suit alleges nine counts, including gross negligence, reckless conduct, and corporate negligence. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages for past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life.
The complaint frames the episode as “a complete failure of basic safety procedures.”
Layne put the human cost in plain terms.
"Now every day for the rest of her life, Sharon Jacks must live with the consequences of those failures."
He went further on how basic the breakdown was.
"It shouldn’t happen in any type of medicine. It shouldn’t happen anywhere. It shouldn’t happen in a veterinary setting, even."
Selby General Hospital, part of Memorial Health System, issued a statement acknowledging an “adverse surgical event” in September 2025. Officials said staff “responded immediately to address the medical needs of the patient involved and provide support to their family.”
The hospital did not dispute that the event should not have occurred.
"Our proactive review of what took place confirmed this was an avoidable event, and that our expected operating room procedures were not followed. Those involved were held accountable for their actions and are no longer in their positions."
Hospital leaders said they fully cooperated with a review by the Ohio Department of Health. In the hospital’s account, that review “confirmed our surgical protocols are safe and effective.” Officials added that clinical and leadership teams have put corrective measures in place across the organization to keep a similar situation from happening again.
The public record provided in reporting does not name the surgeon or list the specific titles of everyone removed from their posts. It also does not release a separate Ohio Department of Health findings document beyond the hospital’s description of the review.
Hospitals run time-outs and site marking for a reason. Those steps are meant to turn “never events” into actual never-events. Jacks’ lawsuit says the team documented the checks and still amputated the wrong leg, then had to take the correct one later.
That sequence left a cancer patient without both legs. It also left taxpayers, insurers, and families staring at the same old pattern: rules on the wall, breakdown in the room, and a patient stuck with the bill for life.
Civil court will sort liability, damages, and who owes what. The hospital says the people involved are gone and the protocols have been tightened. Jacks still has to live every day with two missing legs.
When a marked leg and two time-outs still produce the wrong amputation, the public is right to demand more than a statement and a personnel shuffle. Patients walk into an operating room trusting the system will do the simple things right. Sharon Jacks shows what happens when it does not.
