A Florida doctor was indicted after he accidentally removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen during surgery. The man died on the operating table.
A grand jury indicted Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky on a second-degree manslaughter charge in the August 2024 death.
70-year-old William Bryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and his wife, Beverly Bryan, a registered nurse, were vacationing at their condominium in Destin, Florida.
Bryan told his wife he felt a sharp pain in his left side.
They went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital on August 18, 2024.
A scan showed he had an enlarged spleen. A splenectomy surgical procedure was recommended to remove his enlarged spleen.
Bryan elected to go home and have the surgery done in Alabama. But Dr. Shaknovsky reportedly “pressured” him for 3 days to have the surgery done at Ascension.
Bryan finally agreed to have the procedure done in Florida.
“I tried to convince Dr. Shaknovsky to let me take him home or arrange to be transported,” his wife, Beverly, told WEAR News. “But Dr. Shaknovsky said that Bill would bleed to death if he was moved.
Dr. Shaknovsky scheduled a laparoscopic splenectomy procedure for August 21, 2024. Fellow surgeons had concerns about the procedure. They worried that Dr. Shaknovsky didn’t have the skill level to “safely perform” a splenectomy with a skeleton staff so late in the day.
At some point during the procedure, Bryan went into cardiac arrest and started to bleed heavily on the table. He was pronounced dead minutes later.
“Dr. Shaknovsky removed an organ he believed to be the spleen, but due to his shock and the chaos, he was unable to properly identify the organ,” a report by the Florida Department of Health stated.
After the procedure, Shaknovsky claimed in his notes that the patient died of a ruptured aneurysm in the splenic artery.
But an investigation determined the doctor covered up the fact that he removed the patient’s liver by mistake.
The Walton County sheriff’s office said Bryan died from “catastrophic blood loss.”
Shaknovsky, 44, was arrested on Monday, April 13, and released on $75,000 bond.
“Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said in a statement. “The Grand Jury has spoken, and our responsibility is to ensure the charges are carried out through the proper legal process. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family and their unspeakable loss.”
