An Alabama man died in a Florida hospital when a doctor mistakenly removed his liver during a procedure that was supposed to remove his spleen.
William Bryan and his wife Beverly were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa County, Florida, last month when he suddenly began experiencing lower left abdominal pain.
The 70-year-old Muscle Shoals, Alabama, resident went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County, where he was admitted for further tests due to concerns about an abnormality in his spleen.
The general surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky and the Dr. Christopher Bacanithe hospital’s medical director, persuaded the family to have Bryan undergo surgery at the hospital or else “he could experience serious complications,” the law firm representing the widow claims.
Bryan agreed with the doctors and underwent a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure on August 21.
In the middle of surgery, Shaknovsky removed Bryan’s liver severing the main vasculature supplying blood to the liver.
The surgical cut resulted in “immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” said Joe Zarzaur, the family’s attorney.
They performed another wrong surgery in 2023
After mistakenly removing Bryan’s liver, the surgeon general labeled the organ as a “spleen,” which was only identified as a liver after the man’s death.
Shaknovsky explained to Beverly Bryan that her husband’s “spleen” was so diseased that it was four times its normal size and had migrated to the other side of his body.
Zarzaur states that Dr. Shaknovsky had already had another “wrong-site surgery” in 2023in which he allegedly removed part of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing the planned adrenal gland resection. That case was settled confidentially.
Beverly Bryan hired the law firm to get “justice” for her husband and hopes the surgeon general will no longer treat other patients.
“My husband died helpless on the operating table by Dr. Shaknovsky. I don’t want anyone else to die because of your incompetence. at a hospital that should have known or should have known that he had previously made drastic, life-changing surgical errors,” the widow said in a statement through the law firm.
A spokesperson for Ascension Hospital emailed USA Today on Tuesday saying, “We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is conducting a thorough investigation into this event.”
As of Tuesday, no complaint had been filed because, Under Florida law, a pre-suit process must be conducted six to nine months before filing a formal medical malpractice lawsuit in court, Zarzaur said.
Bryan’s family and Zarzaur intend to file a lawsuit, but the current cause for concern is that Shaknovsky may still be practicing medicine, according to the attorney.
“This doctor continued to treat patients and apparently still had access to hospitals and operating rooms, which is something I don’t think she should be doing,” Zarzaur said. “Ms. Bryan obviously doesn’t think she should ever set foot in a hospital or operating room again.”
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