Sharon Jacks walked into Selby General Hospital for one leg amputation and left without the other. The 74-year-old Army veteran later lost the limb doctors had planned to remove, and she is now a double amputee fighting the hospital in court.
NBC News coverage of the case states that Jacks and her husband filed a 32-page lawsuit this month in Washington County Common Pleas Court in Marietta, Ohio. The complaint names nine defendants, including the hospital, her medical and surgical teams, and surgeon Dr. Gregory Krivchenia II.
The suit claims the September 2025 operation was supposed to take her right leg as part of treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. Instead, the surgical team removed her left leg. Four months later she underwent the originally intended right-leg procedure. Both amputations were below the knee.
That sequence turned a single planned surgery into permanent disability on both sides. Jacks is pursuing civil claims of gross negligence, battery, and reckless conduct. No criminal charges are described in the available reporting.
Attorney Brad Layne said the surgical team marked the correct leg, then amputated the wrong one. The team realized the mistake during the procedure and told the family before Jacks woke up.
The lawsuit states she “suffered physical injury, permanent disability, pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses and other damages,”
It further alleges the defendants crossed a bright line of intent and care.
"Defendants acted willfully, wantonly, recklessly, maliciously, and with conscious disregard for the substantial certainty of catastrophic injury,"
Those words frame the case as more than a simple mistake. They put the hospital and surgical team on notice that Jacks intends to prove reckless disregard, not ordinary negligence alone.
Selby General Hospital called the episode an “avoidable event.” Officials said the facility retrained all surgical staff after the surgery and that staffers involved in Jacks’ operation “are no longer in their positions.”
Hospital spokesperson Jennifer Offenberger did not immediately return a request for comment. The public record so far offers no detailed account of the specific safety protocols that failed that day.
Investigators and jurors, if the case reaches trial, will need to determine how a marked limb was still removed on the wrong side, what checks were skipped, and whether the hospital’s later retraining and staff changes match the severity of the outcome.
Dr. Gregory Krivchenia II performed the surgery at issue and is listed among the defendants. Online records show he remains licensed to practice in Ohio. He did not immediately return a request for comment.
A receptionist at First Settlement Orthopaedics Inc., where he previously worked, said in a brief phone call that he is retired. The suit does not resolve whether licensing status, retirement timing, or hospital credentialing will become central disputes.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed any separate medical board sanction tied to this case. The civil filing remains the main public action described to date.
Layne said Jacks has been cancer-free since the correct operation. That medical result stands beside the permanent physical cost of losing both legs below the knee.
He described the couple’s daily reality without polish.
"I would be wrong if I said things were great, of course. They’re taking it, day by day, her and her husband, just trying to get through life,"
The complaint seeks damages for physical injury, permanent disability, pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, and other harms. Exact dollar demands and a full docket number are not set out in the reporting summarized here.
The lawsuit was filed this month relative to the Sept. 30, 2026 publication date. The precise calendar filing day, the complete caption of all nine defendants, and the exact date of the second amputation are not publicly detailed in the account.
Jacks’ husband’s first name also is not given. No court finding, admission of liability, or final disposition is reported. The case appears newly filed and untested by a jury or judge on the merits.
Civil procedure will now force disclosure. Discovery can compel operative notes, timeout checklists, laterality verification records, and internal reviews the hospital has not released publicly. Those documents will either support or undercut the claim that the correct leg was marked and still the wrong leg was removed.
Battery and reckless-conduct counts raise the stakes beyond ordinary malpractice. They invite argument over whether the conduct showed conscious disregard for a known risk of catastrophic injury, language the complaint itself uses.
Wrong-site surgery sits at the top of never-event lists for a reason. Hospitals build redundant checks precisely so a single lapse cannot take a healthy limb. When those checks fail, patients lose mobility, independence, and years of ordinary life.
Selby General says it retrained staff and moved involved personnel out of their positions. Jacks and her husband say that response does not restore what was taken. The Washington County Common Pleas Court will decide whether the hospital and named clinicians owe damages for the difference.
Dr. Krivchenia’s continued Ohio license, the hospital’s internal changes, and the couple’s day-by-day existence now sit in the same file. Each will be tested against the operative facts the complaint alleges.
When a veteran enters a hospital for cancer care and leaves without the wrong leg, the public is entitled to more than a press statement about an avoidable event. Courts exist to sort claim from defense, record from spin, and accountability from paperwork.
