A Washington County, Ohio woman went into surgery expecting to lose her lower right leg. Instead, according to a newly filed lawsuit, surgeons prepped, draped and operated on her left leg instead, amputating it before she ultimately had to lose the right leg too — leaving her a double amputee.
The lawsuit, filed by Kayser, Layne & Clerk, PLLC out of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, was reported by WCHS, which reviewed the filing alleging that Sharon Jacks went in for surgery to have her lower right leg amputated. Instead, the suit claims, the surgical team prepared and draped the wrong leg and placed a pneumatic tourniquet on the wrong thigh before proceeding.
Wrong Leg Removed Despite Two Safety Checks
According to the lawsuit, the surgical team went forward with amputating Jacks's lower left leg rather than the right leg doctors had planned to remove. The station's report notes that medical records show two time-outs did occur before the procedure — steps that are meant to verify the patient, the procedure, and the correct operative site before surgery begins.
Despite those checks, the wrong limb allegedly came off. Jacks still had to have her right leg amputated at a later date, per the same account, which left her as a double amputee.
Attorney Says Multiple Professionals Failed
Brad Layne, who is representing the Jacks family, said wrong-limb amputation should never happen and that multiple medical professionals completely failed. The lawsuit names Selby General Hospital, Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta Area Health Care, Inc., Marietta Health Care Physicians, Inc. and First Settlement Orthopedics, Inc., as well as a team of doctors and physicians, as defendants.
The complaint alleges Jacks suffered severe and permanent bodily injury, pain and suffering, emotional distress, disability, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, lost earnings and other damages. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as other relief available under Ohio law.
How Rare Are Wrong-Site Surgeries
Cases like this one are uncommon but not unheard of nationally. In 2022, wrong-site surgery accounted for 6% of the 1,441 sentinel events reviewed by The Joint Commission, according to facs.org. A separate analysis of 68 closed wrong-site surgery malpractice claims from 2013 to 2020 found an average indemnity of $136,452.84, with roughly 60% of those cases settled, and orthopaedic services were the specialty most frequently responsible, accounting for 35.3% of claims.
Researchers who studied those claims identified failure to follow surgical policies or protocols as the leading contributing factor behind wrong-site surgery overall. Separately, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality notes that safety checklists and time-outs improve surgical safety but that errors can still occur before a patient ever reaches the operating room, during a rushed or ineffective time-out, or under production pressures during the procedure itself. The agency has also noted, per a separate case review, that the Joint Commission has amassed more than 300 voluntarily submitted reports since 1998 describing procedures performed on the wrong body site.
What Ohio Law Allows
Under the Ohio Revised Code, there is no limitation on compensatory damages representing a plaintiff's economic loss in a medical civil action, according to Ohio Revised Code Section 2323.43.
The lawsuit remains a set of allegations at this stage, and the case centers on claims of medical malpractice tied to the wrong-leg amputation. Jacks and her attorney are seeking accountability from the named hospitals and physicians as the case moves through the legal system.
