An Ohio woman has filed a lawsuit after a huge surgical mistake leaves her, literally, with no leg to stand on.
74-year-old Sharon Jacks had suffered from a chronic and painful ulcer on her left leg. She also had skin cancer affecting the same leg. After a great deal of soul searching, and carefully weighing the pros against the con's, Sharon made a life changing decision. She was going to have her left leg amputated from the knee down.
She had concluded that a short amount of painful recovery and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg was favorable over constant and unimaginable pain.
With the big decision made, Janet felt a sense of relief and hope for the future. She had served in the U.S. Army and is very much a woman of action.
After attempting to manage an untenable medical condition, long term, she felt she was moving in the correct direction.
Those hopes and dreams would be shattered by mind-boggling incompetence.
Sharon contacted all of the appropriate people to begin the process to start her journey to a mostly pain-free life.
In no time at all, staff at the Marietta Selby General Hospital had Sharon's surgery scheduled. Everyone seemed professional, and Sharon's determination on the matter made the entire ordeal seem doable. What could go wrong?
Well, things went very wrong.
When Sharon woke up from surgery and looked down at her newly amputated leg... it was the wrong leg. The lines made with a marker to show where the surgeon was supposed to cut her diseased left leg off at the knee, were still clearly visible. Her perfectly healthy right leg, was gone, from the knee down.
Sharon understandably went from shock, confusion, grief, to anger.
Sharon would have to learn a whole new way of living. A blow like this would take many people completely out of the game and too despondent to fight back.
Unfortunately, Sharon still required her left leg to be amputated due to the conditions she suffered. Now, rather than learning to live with one prosthetic leg... Sharon was going to be living life as a double amputee.
The surgery took place in September 2025. This month, Sharon Jacks has officially filed a suit against
9 defendants who were in some way responsible on that fateful day. How they missed the very visible surgery "removal mark" is mind-blowing.
Among those 9 defendants is Dr. Gregory Krivchenia ll, the surgeon who performed the surgery. The lawsuit claims that despite marking the correct leg before surgery, the wrong one was ultimately amputated. The lawsuit makes point to note that the mark indicating which leg to amputate was still clearly marked well AFTER the surgery, as well before and during the surgery.
The hospital has released a statement stating the painfully obvious, they said the incident was, "an avoidable event." They also assure the public that the team members responsible for this outrageous mistake have been let go.
They continued by saying, "the entire remaining surgical staff has undergone retraining".
However, none of those steps will lead to Sharon taking steps forward... on a leg she does not have.
Sharon's attorney attributes her exceptional military training for the mental and physical toughness she has been forced to display in the months after the hospital's life-altering mistake.
The amount she is seeking in the suit has not been disclosed.
In a world where some lawsuits are absolutely frivolous and vindictive, I think we can all agree Sharon's situation is wholly valid.
Best of luck, Sharon and thank you for your service, ma'am.
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