OKALOOSA COUNTY, FL – An Alabama man tragically lost his life on a Florida operating table when a surgeon mistakenly removed his liver instead of his spleen, according to the attorney representing the man’s widow. William Bryan, 70, and his wife Beverly were in Okaloosa County, Florida, visiting their rental property when he began to suffer from lower left abdominal pain. Bryan, a resident of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County for further testing due to concerns about a spleen abnormality.
Bryan’s life was cut short on August 21, 2024, when a surgeon wrongfully removed his liver during an operation. The law firm Zarzaur Law P.A. alleges that Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, a general surgeon, and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, convinced the family that Bryan needed surgery at the hospital to avoid serious complications.
Bryan agreed to undergo a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure. However, during the operation, Shaknovsky mistakenly removed Bryan’s liver, causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss that led to Bryan’s death. The surgeon then misidentified the removed organ as a spleen, a mistake that was only discovered after Bryan’s death.
Shaknovsky reportedly told Beverly Bryan that her husband’s spleen was diseased and had grown four times its normal size, even migrating to the other side of his body. In reality, the liver is located on the upper right side of the abdominal cavity, while the spleen is on the upper left side and is significantly smaller than the liver.
Zarzaur Law P.A. also alleges that this is not the first time Shaknovsky has been involved in a “wrong-site surgery.” In 2023, he allegedly removed a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of the intended adrenal gland resection. That case was settled confidentially.
Beverly Bryan has engaged Zarzaur Law P.A. to seek justice for her husband’s death and hopes that Shaknovsky will no longer be allowed to treat patients. She is pursuing both civil and criminal proceedings related to her husband’s death.
North Walton Doctor’s Hospital has since distanced itself from Shaknovsky, removing all references to him from its website. Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital is investigating Bryan’s death but has not released further information. After Bryan’s death, a small cyst was found on his spleen, believed to be the cause of his initial pain.