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This month 74‑year‑old Army veteran Sharon Jacks filed a lawsuit in Washington County Common Pleas Court alleging that surgeons at Selby General Hospital amputated the wrong leg during a September 2025 operation. The suit says the team removed Ms. Jacks’s left leg when the planned procedure was to take her right leg for cancer. The hospital calls the error “an avoidable event.” Now she is a double amputee and she’s asking the courts for answers and money for the rest of her life.
The lawsuit: what it actually alleges
The complaint runs roughly 32 pages and names nine defendants — Selby General Hospital (part of Memorial Health System), members of the surgical team, and the operating surgeon listed in reports as Dr. Gregory Krivchenia II. Attorney Brad Layne, representing Ms. Jacks, says the suit accuses the defendants of gross negligence, battery and reckless conduct. According to the filing and media reports, the correct limb was marked before surgery, required “time‑outs” were reportedly taken, and yet the wrong leg was still amputated. The surgical team allegedly told family members about the mistake before Ms. Jacks woke up.
Hospital response and the claim of accountability
Selby General’s statement calls the episode an “adverse surgical event” and says expected operating‑room procedures were not followed. The health system says it retrained staff, cooperated with the Ohio Department of Health review, and removed the staff involved from their positions. Fine — retraining is cheap, and publicity mandates are cheaper still. But retraining doesn’t return a limb. The complaint is asking for compensatory and punitive damages for past and future medical bills, pain and suffering, and loss of life’s enjoyment. The legal system will be where the hospital’s promises are tested against hard evidence.
Why this matters: never events, safety rules, and accountability
Wrong‑site surgery is classified by safety experts as a “never event.” The Joint Commission’s Universal Protocol requires marking the surgical site, a pre‑op verification, and a final time‑out before incision to prevent exactly this tragedy. When those simple steps fail, we’re left asking whether it was human error, systemic failure, or both. Hospitals often clean house and say they’ve “improved processes.” That’s welcome — but the public deserves an independent review, a State Medical Board check on licensing and discipline, and public disclosure of how the failure actually happened. Ms. Jacks is a veteran; she served her country. She deserves more than corporate PR and a line about retraining.
This lawsuit is the moment for true accountability. If the complaint’s allegations hold up in court, punitive damages should follow so other hospitals don’t treat “never events” like inconvenient footnotes. For now, watch for the court filings, the Ohio Department of Health’s findings, and any action by the State Medical Board. Retraining announcements make for nice press releases — they don’t heal a life. Ms. Jacks is asking a judge to hold someone responsible for a wrong‑leg amputation. That’s the right place for it to be decided.
