A Florida physician has been charged with second-degree manslaughter after allegedly removing the wrong organ during surgery, leading to the death of a patient. The incident has prompted significant legal action, according to local authorities.
Dr. Thomas Shaknovksy, aged 44, was officially indicted on Monday following a tragic surgical error in August 2024. During what was meant to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, Shaknovksy mistakenly removed the liver of 70-year-old William Bryan, a resident of Alabama, instead of his spleen. This error resulted in Bryan bleeding to death on the operating table, as confirmed by the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our commitment is to pursue the truth without bias,” stated Sheriff Michael Adkinson. “The Grand Jury has delivered its verdict, and our duty now is to ensure that the legal process is followed thoroughly. Our hearts go out to the victim’s family in their tragic loss. We are dedicated to handling this case with the utmost professionalism and integrity that our community expects.”
Following the incident, Dr. Shaknovksy has been stripped of his medical license. Reports suggest he had urged Bryan to consent to the surgery after the patient was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach due to lower left abdominal pain.
While Bryan was in the Florida Panhandle with his wife, doctors identified a possible spleen issue. Nevertheless, Bryan initially opted against any surgical procedure, expressing a preference to return to his home in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for further evaluation.
Bryan, visiting the Florida Panhandle with his wife, was admitted for further testing after doctors suspected a spleen abnormality but declined “surgical intervention,” wishing instead to go back to his home in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Shaknovsky allegedly urged the patient to have his spleen removed, a procedure in which Bryan eventually relented, according to an emergency suspension order viewed by The Post.
During the doomed operation, the reckless doctor allegedly converted to an open procedure citing poor visibility in Bryan’s colon and abdomen and went on to snip and staple vessels around the liver, triggering a severe hemorrhage and sending the patient into cardiac arrest.
While staff scrambled to revive the patient, Shaknovsky continued dissecting the abdomen and did not call for assistance as he removed the 4.6-pound liver.
“The staff looked at the readily identifiable liver on the table and were shocked when Dr. Shaknovsky told them it was the spleen,” a witness in the operation room said.
“One staff member ‘felt sick to their stomach.’”
Bryan was pronounced dead and the bungling doctor insisted he died of a splenic artery aneurysm.
Shaknovsky allegedly requested staff to label the liver as a “spleen” and send it to pathology.
“The staff in the room felt that Dr. Shaknovsky was attempting to convince them that this is what occurred, even though they witnessed something different,” the order said.
Bryan’s death was later ruled a homicide due to “liver removed during splenectomy,” according to the family’s lawyer.
Shaknovksy was hauled into custody Monday morning and transported to the Walton County Jail, where he is awaiting his first court appearance.
