A tragic incident occurred during a surgery in Florida, where a doctor mistakenly removed a man’s liver instead of performing the intended procedure. The surgeon then tried to pass off the organ as a “enlarged spleen,” as reported by a lawyer representing the man’s widow.
Last month, William Bryan and his wife Beverly found themselves in Okaloosa County, Florida, where William started to feel a sharp pain in his lower left abdomen.
An elderly resident from Muscle Shoals, AL recently visited Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County for additional tests due to concerns about a spleen abnormality, as reported by Zarzaur Law P.A. on Facebook.
According to the law firm, General Surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, were able to convince the hesitant family to proceed with Bryan’s surgery at the hospital. They emphasized the potential for serious complications if he were to leave the hospital.
Bryan underwent a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure on Aug. 21, as recommended by the doctors.
During the surgical procedure, Shaknovsky successfully removed Bryan’s liver by carefully cutting the major blood vessels that supply it.
According to the post, the surgical cut led to a severe and fatal blood loss.
In a regrettable mistake, the general surgeon mislabeled Bryan’s organ as a “spleen,” only realizing it was a liver after the man’s passing.
Shaknovsky went on to inform Beverly Bryan that her husband’s spleen was severely diseased, being four times larger than normal and having shifted to the opposite side of his body.
The liver is situated in the upper right side of the abdominal cavity, below the diaphragm and above the stomach, right kidney, and intestines.
The spleen is situated on the upper left side of the abdomen, adjacent to the stomach. It is considerably smaller than the liver, weighing between 1,100 and 1,400 grams less, and is approximately the size of a fist.
Zarzaur Law alleges that Dr. Shaknovsky was involved in a previous surgical error in 2023, where he mistakenly removed part of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing the intended adrenal gland resection.
The case was resolved privately.
Beverly Bryan sought legal representation to seek justice for her husband and hopes that the general surgeon will no longer provide care to other patients.
“My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr. Shaknovsky. I don’t want anyone else to die due to his incompetence at a hospital that should have known or knew he had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical mistakes,” the widow said in a statement through the law firm.
Beverly Bryan is determined to pursue both civil and criminal proceedings in connection with her husband’s tragic passing.
According to Zarzaur, North Walton Doctor’s Hospital has decided to sever ties with Shaknovsky and has taken down all photos and references to the doctor from its website.
