An Alabama man died on a Florida operating table after a doctor mistakenly removed his liver during surgery and then tried to claim the organ was an "enlarged spleen," according to the lawyer representing the man's widow and multiple media reports.
William Bryan and his wife Beverly were at their rental property in Okaloosa County, Florida last month when he suddenly started feeling pain in his lower left abdomen. The 70-year-old resident of Muscle Shoals, AL, immediately went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County to do additional tests due to concerns about a spleen abnormality, according to a Friday post by Zarzaur Law P.A. on Facebook.
Doctor Turns Killer
General Surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the hospital's Chief Medical Officer, convinced Bryan's hesitant family to proceed with surgery at the hospital, warning that leaving could lead to serious complications, according to the law firm.
Bryan agreed and underwent a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy on August 21.
During the surgery, Shaknovsky mistakenly removed Bryan's liver by cutting through the major blood vessels that supply it.
This surgical cut led to "immediate and catastrophic blood loss, resulting in death," the post said.
Following the mistake, the general surgeon labeled the removed liver as a "spleen," and it was only after Bryan's death that the organ was correctly identified.
Shaknovsky then told Beverly Bryan that her husband's "'spleen' was so diseased it had grown four times its normal size and had moved to the other side of his body."
In the human body, the liver is situated in the upper right side of the abdominal cavity, just beneath the diaphragm and above the stomach, right kidney, and intestines.
The spleen, found on the upper left side of the abdomen near the stomach, is much smaller than the liver, between 1,100 and 1,400 grams lighter. It is approximately the size of a fist.
Doctor in Trouble
Zarzaur Law alleges that Shaknovsky had a prior incident of "wrong-site surgery" in 2023, where he reportedly removed part of a patient's pancreas instead of performing the planned adrenal gland resection. That case was settled privately.
Beverly Bryan hired the law firm to seek "justice" for her husband and hopes that the general surgeon will no longer treat 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 advocating for both civil and criminal action concerning her husband's death.
North Walton Doctor's Hospital has "disassociated" itself from Shaknovsky and removed all his photos and references from its website, according to Zarzaur.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital stated that it is looking into Bryan's death but declined to provide further details.
"We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event. Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has a longstanding history of providing safe, quality care since the hospital opened its doors in 2003," the hospital said in statement obtained by AL.com. "Patient safety is and remains our number one priority. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family. We hold the privacy of our patients in the highest regard. We do not comment on specific patient cases or active litigation."
