An Alabama widow is sharing her heartbreak after her husband died on the operating table when a surgeon allegedly removed the wrong organ.
Beverly Bryan said her 33-year-old husband, William, 70, underwent emergency surgery in August after feeling sudden pain in his side while they were visiting their rented property in Florida.
Although the problem was due to her spleen, the surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, allegedly removed her liver by mistake, causing fatal side effects in the process.
The alleged medical mix-up was revealed when Beverly asked for civil and criminal proceedings to be initiated, saying her husband “died helpless.”
William Bryan, 70 (pictured with his wife Beverly) died last month after undergoing emergency surgery in which a doctor allegedly removed the wrong organ.
Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky is accused of mistakenly removing Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen. Authorities have not charged him with any crime.
According to the law firm Zarzaur Law, which represents Beverly, William was initially reluctant to undergo his fatal surgery, but doctors at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County, Florida, pressured him to do so.
While in the hospital on Aug. 18, he asked to be released so he could travel to see his doctor in Alabama, but Shaknovsky and another doctor “persuaded” him to agree to the surgery, warning him of “serious complications” if he refused, the firm said.
But Shaknovsky mistakenly designated William’s liver as his spleen, in a tragic error that a surgical pathology report described as “grossly identifiable,” the paper reports. The Miami Herald.
When Shaknovsky removed the liver, he ruptured blood vessels connected to the organ, “causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” Zarzaur Law said.
After the surgery, Shaknovsky told Beverly that William’s spleen “was so diseased that it was four times its normal size and had migrated to the other side of his body,” the firm added.
William’s death came after the mistaken removal of his liver tore blood vessels connected to the organ, “causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death.”
Although William’s spleen was never removed, an autopsy found that he had a small cyst.
William’s grieving widow now says she plans to file a lawsuit after a pre-litigation process is carried out.
“My husband died helpless on Dr. Shaknovsky’s operating table,” Beverly said in a statement.
According to his obituary, William was a father of three children, had eight grandchildren, and was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War.
In her statement, Beverly also accused Shaknovsky of having previously removed a patient’s pancreas by mistake in 2023.
In that case, the surgeon “mistakenly removed a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing the intended adrenal gland resection,” Zarzaur Law said, adding that “the case was settled confidentially.”
According to his obituary, William was a Vietnam War veteran with the U.S. Navy and leaves behind three children and eight grandchildren.
Beverly said in her statement that her potential legal action stems from the fact that she “does not want anyone else to die due to her incompetence at a hospital that should have known or knew that she had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical errors.”
According to the Miami Herald, Shaknovsky had no disciplinary cases or public complaints against his record.
Shaknovsky has not been criminally charged in the William Bryan case.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast said in a statement to McClatchy News: “We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is conducting a thorough investigation into this event.”
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family,” the statement added, noting that the hospital “does not comment on specific patient cases or active litigation.”
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