An Ohio woman is suing Selby General Hospital after what should have been a routine below-the-knee amputation on her right leg ended with surgeons removing her left leg instead. Sharon Jacks of Marietta went in for the elective procedure because of cancer in her right leg. According to the lawsuit, the correct leg was marked and checked off before surgery, and documented safety timeouts were performed twice during the procedure. The hospital has not disputed the outcome, calling it an avoidable event and stating that its operating room procedures were not followed.
The human cost is staggering. Sharon, an Army veteran, is now a double amputee. Her husband Dannie quit his job to become her full-time caregiver, and he describes the daily reality in stark terms, explaining she has to move herself from a board to a wheelchair just to reach the bathroom or change clothes. The Jacks family is suing the hospital and the surgical team, while the hospital says those involved no longer hold their positions.
Wrong-site surgeries like this fall into a category hospitals call “never events,” meaning they are considered entirely preventable. This case raises uncomfortable questions for anyone who will one day face a surgical table: what good is a checklist if the people running it don’t follow through? If you or a loved one has a procedure coming up, ask the hard questions and confirm the plan out loud with your care team. What would you want to know before going into surgery?
