A Florida surgeon mistakenly removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen, leaving him dead on the operating table, a lawyer for the man’s widow alleges.
William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, underwent surgery for a spleen abnormality on August 21 at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar, Florida. Statement from personal injury firm Zarzour LawLocated in Pensacola, Florida.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with other authorities, said in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday that it is investigating Bryan’s death.
William Bryan and his wife, Beverly Bryan, were visiting their rental property in the Sunshine State when they began experiencing “pain in the left side,” Beverly said. Brian’s lawyers said.
He was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation, and although Brian was reluctant to undergo surgery in Florida, he was persuaded. Dr. Thomas Shaknowski, Surgeon General and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said they could experience serious complications if they left the hospital’s care.
Beverly Bryan’s lawyer, Joe Zarzaur, said in the statement that according to the records, both Shaknowski and Bacani appeared to be involved in the discussion.
Shaknowski performed a laparoscopic splenectomy on William Bryan, Zarzour said, with fatal results.
“Dr. Shaknowski removed Mr. Bryan’s liver and, in doing so, transected the major vasculature supplying the liver, resulting in immediate and catastrophic blood loss, resulting in death,” the statement said. “The surgeon labeled the removed liver specimen as ‘spleen.’ proceeded, and until after death it was not recognized that the organ removed was actually Mr. Bryan’s liver, as opposed to the spleen.'”
Shaknowski told Beverly Bryan that her husband’s spleen was so sick that it was four times larger than normal and had moved to the other side of his body, Zarzaur alleged. But in a normal human body, the liver exists on the opposite side of the abdomen and is much larger than the spleen, he said.
“The family was informed that Mr. Bryan’s spleen, the origin of his original symptom profile upon presentation to the hospital, was still in his body and showed a small cyst on its surface,” the statement said.
Shaknovsky made a similar mistake in 2023, removing parts of the pancreas instead of the adrenal gland, in a privately settled case, Zarzour said.
The employment status of Shaknovsky and Bakani was not immediately clear Wednesday afternoon. Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital could not be reached for comment.
Shaknovsky and Bacani also could not be reached for comment.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding Brian’s death.
“The Walton County Sheriff’s Office is working with the District 1 Medical Examiner’s Office and the Office of the State Attorney’s Office to review the facts surrounding the death of William Bryan to determine if anything criminal occurred.”
According to Zarzour, Beverly Brian Shakanowski does not want to undergo more surgeries.
“Dr. My husband died while helpless on Shakanovsky’s operating room table. I don’t want anyone else to die because of his incompetence at a hospital that knows or should know that he has made drastic, life-altering surgical mistakes before,” according to a statement from her lawyer.
It is pushing for criminal and civil action, Zarzour said.
“Our goal at Zarzour Law is to get justice for the Brian family and make our community safer one case at a time,” he said. “While most doctors are doing an excellent job of keeping us healthy, there is a small percentage who should not be practicing medicine.”
According to a search Wednesday afternoon with the Florida Board of Medicine, Shaknowski’s medical license is active. Records show that the same is true for Bakani.
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