US man died because doctor removed wrong organ in procedure, family says

The family of a 70-year-old man from Alabama who died last month say that his death was a result of a doctor removing the wrong organ during a surgical procedure in Florida.

William Bryan, 70, and his wife Beverly were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa county this summer when Bryan suddenly began experiencing left-sided flank pain, according to law firm representing his wife, Beverly. Bryan then went to hospital, and was admitted for further studies pursuant to concern for an abnormality of the spleen.

The family say that Bryan and his wife were initially reluctant to proceed with surgery in Florida, but that they were persuaded by the doctors at the Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital in Walton county. They claim that they were told Bryan could experience serious complications if he left the hospital.

On 21 August 2024, the family says that the surgeon, Dr Thomas Shaknovsky, proceeded with a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure.

During the operation, the family’s lawyer alleges that the doctor removed Bryan’s liver and, in so doing, “transected the major vasculature supplying the liver, causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death.”

The surgeon, the family alleges, “proceeded with labeling the removed liver specimen as a ‘spleen’, and it wasn’t until following the death that it was identified that the organ removed was actually Bryan’s liver, as opposed to the spleen.”

The doctor reportedly told Beverly after the procedure that the “spleen” was so sick that it was four times bigger than usual and had migrated to the other side of Bryan’s body.

“Typical human anatomy dictates that the liver naturally exists on the opposite side of the abdominal cavity, and it is several times larger than the spleen,” the statement from the lawyer representing the Bryan family reads.

“The family was informed that Bryan’s spleen, the root of his original symptom profile upon presentation to the hospital, was still in his body and appeared with a small cyst on its surface.”

The lawyer alleges that the doctor had a previous “wrong-site surgery in 2023 where he mistakenly removed a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing the intended adrenal gland resection.”

That case, the lawyer said, was settled in confidence and the doctor remained a surgeon.

Beverly hired a lawyer after her husband died, to get “justice for her husband” the law firm said in a statement.

“She doesn’t want this doctor to continue treating patients,” her lawyer said, who added that Beverly was calling for both criminal and civil proceedings over her husband’s death.

In a statement, Beverly said: “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.”

As of Wednesday, the Miami Herald reported that Shaknovsky had not been criminally charged and he had no disciplinary cases or public complaints against his file. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Miami Herald.

The Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital said in a statement sent to the Guardian that it “take(s) committed like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event.”

They continued: “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.”

Bryan and Beverly were married for 33 years, and have three children and eight grandchildren, according to his obituary from August. He worked as a boilermaker and also was a navy veteran who served in Vietnam.