Florida surgeon indicted after removing liver instead of spleen | Florida
A surgeon in Florida has been charged with manslaughter after accidentally removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during an August 2024 procedure.
Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted by a grand jury in Tallahassee on Monday after prosecutors said he botched surgery for William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The first trial jury heard that Shaknovsky, of DeFuniak Springs, 190 miles west of Tallahassee, was scheduled to perform a surgery on the patient called a laparoscopic splenectomy, but instead cut out the man’s liver.
The result was “catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table.” a press release From Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson.
Shaknovsky was taken into custody Monday morning in Miramar Beach, Florida, and taken to the Walton County Jail ahead of his first scheduled court appearance Tuesday, the sheriff said.
Court records and emergency order The report on the license suspension by the Florida Department of Health, less than a month after Bryan’s death, details how Shaknovsky allegedly insisted he continue operating at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach even when it was clear he had made a mistake.
“Dr Shaknovsky removed an organ he believed to be his spleen, but due to the shock and chaos he experienced, he was unable to positively identify the organ,” prosecutors said.
The license suspension order, signed by Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, said Shaknovsky told investigators that he was unable to control the aneurysm that caused Bryan’s chest cavity to fill with blood and “instead decided to complete the splenectomy as a last resort to control the bleeding after the patient went into cardiac arrest for 15 minutes.”
Adkinson said in his statement: “Our duty is to follow the facts, wherever they lead, without fear or favor.
“The grand jury has spoken, and our responsibility is to ensure that charges are pursued through the appropriate legal process. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and their indescribable loss.”
Bryan, a Navy veteran who has been married for 33 years, and his wife, Beverly, were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa County in August 2024 when he suddenly began experiencing left side pain. Zarzaur Lawmedical malpractice attorneys representing the family.
Bryan was admitted for further studies due to concerns about an abnormality in his spleen, and the firm was initially reluctant to proceed with the surgery in Florida until doctors convinced him that he could suffer serious complications if he left the hospital.
The attorneys also alleged that Shaknovsky “continued to label the removed liver sample as ‘spleen'” and told Bryan’s wife after the procedure that the “spleen” was so diseased that it was four times larger than normal and had migrated to the other side of Bryan’s body.
Adkinson said a “thorough investigation” was conducted by the Walton sheriff’s office, the Walton County state’s attorney and state medical officials.
The sheriff said the grand jury found probable cause that Shaknovsky’s actions in the operating room constituted a crime under Florida law and returned a charge of second-degree manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Shaknovsky’s lawyer, who also lost his license to practice medicine in Alabama and New York after Bryan’s death, was not on the list.
