70-year-old Bill Bryan of Alabama is dead thanks to the ineptitude and negligence of Florida surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky. From media reports, Shaknovsky mistook Bryan’s liver for his spleen, removed it and left the patient to bleed to death on the operating table. Making matters worse, Shaknovsky tried to lie and cover up his medical mistakes after the surgeon. One wonders if law enforcement will consider pursuing criminal charges in this egregious case.
In any case involving the death of a patient, there are many unanswered questions but this case has more than its share including why Shaknovsky was allowed to perform the complex surgery when operating room staff doubted whether the surgeon had the skills to successfully perform the surgery. It is not clear whether the hospital, Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach, Florida, will be held accountable for allowing Shaknovsky surgical privileges at the facility. According to one media report, “Shaknovsky claimed Bryan died from a “ruptured splenic artery aneurysm,” and made several efforts to convince staff in the operating room that he was correct, even though they knew it wasn’t true.
Shaknovsky requested the organ that was removed be labeled a “spleen” and be sent to pathology. The order says the person responsible for labeling the organ knew it was not a spleen but did as they were instructed.
After the “chaos of the surgery was over,” Shaknovsky even went to pathology to look at the organ again, but refused to acknowledge his mistake, the order said. Instead, he fabricated his operative order in great detail, claiming specific ligaments and structures were dissected, but they were never touched.”
This was not Shaknovsky’s first wrong site surgery, a supposed “never event” where protocols are established to avoid such serious errors. In May 2023, Shaknovsky mistook the pancreas for an adrenal gland.
If you or a loved one have been injured by a wrong site surgery such as in this case or any other type of suspected medical malpractice, please contact us immediately.
