A Florida surgeon mistakenly removed a patient’s liver instead of his spleen, killing him, his widow says

A Florida surgeon mistakenly removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen, causing him to die on the operating table, a lawyer for the man’s widow alleges.

William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, He underwent surgery on Aug. 21 at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar, Florida, for abnormalities in his spleen, according to a statement from Pensacola, Florida-based personal injury firm Zarzaur Law.

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 in the Sunshine State visiting their rental property when he began experiencing “pain in his left flank,” Beverly said. Bryan’s attorneys said.

He was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation, and although the Bryans were reluctant to undergo surgery in Florida, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, a general surgeon, and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the hospital’s medical director, convinced them that he could experience serious complications if he left the hospital’s care.

Both Shaknovsky and Bacani appeared to be involved in discussions, according to records, about how to proceed with Bryan’s medical treatment, Beverly Bryan’s attorney, Joe Zarzaur, said in the statement.

Shaknovsky performed a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy on William Bryan, Zarzaur said, which had fatal consequences.

“Dr. Shaknovsky removed Mr. Bryan’s liver, and in doing so, severed the main vasculature supplying blood to the liver, resulting in immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” the statement said. “The surgeon proceeded to label the removed liver sample as a ‘spleen,’ and it was not until after death that it was identified that the removed organ was actually Mr. Bryan’s liver, rather than spleen.”

Shaknovsky told Beverly Bryan that her husband’s spleen was so diseased that it was four times larger than normal and had moved to the other side of the body, Zarzaur said. But in a typical human body, the liver is located on the opposite side of the abdomen and is much larger than the spleen, she said.

“The family was informed that Mr. Bryan’s spleen, the root of his original symptom presentation at the time of his hospital presentation, was still in his body and appeared to have a small cyst on its surface,” the statement said.

Shaknovsky had made a similar mistake in 2023, removing parts of a pancreas instead of an adrenal gland, in a case that was settled privately, Zarzaur said.

The employment status of Shaknovsky and Bacani was unclear Wednesday afternoon. No one at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital could be reached for comment.

Shaknovsky and Bacani could not be reached for comment.

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that authorities are investigating the circumstances of Bryan’s death.

“The Walton County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the District 1 Medical Examiner’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, are reviewing the facts surrounding the death of William Bryan to determine if foul play occurred.”

According to Zarzaur, Beverly Bryan does not want Shaknovsky to perform any more surgeries.

“My husband died helpless on Dr. Shaknovsky’s operating table. I don’t want anyone else to die because of his incompetence at a hospital that should have known or knew that he had made drastic surgical errors that changed his life,” according to his attorney’s statement.

She is pushing for criminal and civil proceedings to be initiated, Zarzaur said.

“Our goal at Zarzaur Law is to achieve justice for the Bryan family and make our community safer on a case-by-case basis,” 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 an investigation Wednesday afternoon by the Florida Board of Medicine, Shaknovsky’s medical license is current. So is Bacani’s, records show.