A 70-year-old man in Florida tragically died on the operating table after a surgeon mistakenly removed the wrong organ during surgery. The incident, which took place in August at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Florida, has raised serious concerns about medical practices at the facility.
Unexpected pain leads to hospitalization
William Bryan and his wife, Beverly, were visiting their rental property in Florida when he began experiencing severe lower left abdominal pain. Concerned about the sudden discomfort, they rushed to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital, where Bryan was admitted for further tests. Doctors expressed concerns about an abnormality in his spleen and advised surgery.
Despite the family’s initial reluctance, they were persuaded by General Surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky and the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christopher Bacani to proceed with the surgery, warning that Bryan could face serious complications if he left the hospital untreated. The surgery, a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy, was meant to address the suspected spleen issue. However, during the procedure, Dr. Shaknovsky mistakenly removed Bryan’s liver, leading to catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death.
Allegations of gross negligence
In a statement released on Facebook, the law firm representing Bryan’s widow claimed that Dr. Shaknovsky tried to pass off the removed liver as an “enlarged spleen.” It was only after Bryan’s death that the organ was correctly identified as the liver. The surgeon allegedly told Beverly Bryan that her husband’s “spleen” was so diseased that it had grown to four times its normal size and had shifted to the other side of his body. The real spleen, still in Bryan’s body, was later found to have only a small cyst on its surface.
A history of surgical errors
Disturbingly, this is not the first time Dr. Shaknovsky has been implicated in a surgical mistake. According to the law firm, the surgeon was involved in a “wrong-site surgery” in 2023, where he mistakenly removed part of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing an adrenal gland resection. Beverly Bryan has retained legal counsel to seek justice for her husband’s death. “My husband died helpless on the operating table due to Dr. Shaknovsky’s incompetence,” she said in a statement through her lawyer. She is pushing for both civil and criminal proceedings, hoping to prevent the surgeon from treating other patients in the future.
Hospital response and ongoing investigation
In response to the incident, North Walton Doctor’s Hospital has “disassociated” itself from Dr. Shaknovsky, removing all references to him from its website.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital has also launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bryan’s death. It was later discovered that the pain Bryan was hospitalized for was likely caused by a small cyst on his spleen, further underscoring the tragic and avoidable nature of the error that led to his death. The incident has sparked a broader conversation about surgical safety and accountability, highlighting the devastating impact of medical errors on patients and their families.