Doctors allegedly amputated wrong leg of patient in Washington County, Ohio. Now a lawsuit is underway
By: Manodeep Mukherjee (We Got This Covered)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A lawsuit filed in Washington County, Ohio , reveals that a patient left surgery with the wrong leg amputated, WCHS TV reported. The legal action names Selby General Hospital, Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta Area Health Care, Inc., Marietta Health Care Physicians, Inc., and First Settlement Orthopedics, Inc. as defendants alongside a team of doctors and physicians.
The legal team representing the patient, Sharon Jacks, is from Kayser, Layne & Clerk, PLLC, based in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages , along with other relief available under Ohio law.
According to the details provided in the lawsuit, Sharon Jacks went in for a procedure to have her lower right leg amputated. The surgical team allegedly had multiple opportunities to catch the mistake while they were prepping and draping the wrong limb. They even placed a pneumatic tourniquet on the wrong thigh before proceeding with the operation on her lower left leg. The medical records indicate that two surgical time-outs took place, but the team still failed to identify the correct operative site.
“Standard operative procedures require the surgical team to conduct surgical time-outs to verify the patient, procedure and correct operative site before proceeding with surgery,” the release said in part. “Though the medical records say that two time-outs did occur, the surgical team still amputated the wrong leg.”
The situation becomes even more difficult to comprehend because Sharon Jacks eventually required the amputation of her original, intended right leg. This sequence of events has left her as a double amputee .
Brad Layne, the attorney representing the Jacks family, provided a statement regarding the legal filing. “Wrong limb amputation should never happen. There is simply no excuse. Complete and total failure by multiple medical professionals caused this catastrophe. Despite several opportunities to identify the mistake and stop the procedure, the surgical team somehow never noticed they were operating on the wrong leg. Now every day for the rest of her life, Sharon Jacks must live with the consequences of those failures.”
The lawsuit outlines the significant impact this has had on the patient. It alleges that Sharon Jacks suffered severe and permanent bodily injury, pain and suffering, as well as emotional distress, disability, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses and lost earnings. The complexity of these injuries and the long-term changes to her daily life are substantial.
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$100 million ?
Where did you get that figure from as it's not in the attached article. But reading thru that as well as other news sources, the correct leg was properly marked by the surgeon before surgery. She had to have the correct leg also removed due to cancer which is what the initial operation was for. The surgeon and the medical team screwed up in a major way. This woman has the rest of her life completely turned on it's ear and this could directly impact the remaining duration of her life as well as this is a major issue for her to heal from. She may never heal completely.
I doubt we'll ever know the true settlement, it will likely be confidential. But it will be substantial which it should be. It's also possible that the surgeon could lose his license for gross negligence, but that will be determined legally as well as by the medical board.
$100 million ?
And then people get mad when their health insurance goes up.
This is a tragic, terrible story. From my reading, Ohio has a limit of $500,000 for pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases where the injury is the loss of a limb. If that is the case, the value of the settlement would depend more on the extent of past medical expenses and future medical needs, life care needs and loss of lifetime earning capacity.
I also just briefly read through the lawsuit. In addition to medical malpractice, she is suing for battery and other causes of action, obviously attempting to circumvent the Ohio medical malpractice pain and suffering limit. She is also asserting a claim for punitive damages. If these other claims are allowed, she could conceivably receive far more than the medical malpractice limitation for her pain and suffering damages as well as her other medical costs, etc.
Interesting case.