Florida surgeon charged with killing man after removing liver instead of spleen
A Florida grand jury has indicted surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky on charges of second-degree manslaughter for the 2024 death of a patient whose surgical procedure was horrifyingly botched.
That patient was 70-year-old William Bryan of Alabama, who was scheduled in August to have his spleen removed in a minimally invasive (laparoscopic) procedure. But instead, Shaknovsky opened Bryan's abdominal cavity, severed his largest vein with a surgical stapling device-which led to his death-and cut his healthy liver from his body as he bled out, according to an investigation by the state health department. Bryan's spleen was left untouched.
The second-degree manslaughter charge stems from an investigation by the Walton County Sheriff's Office, which coordinated with the Office of the State Attorney First Judicial Circuit and additional state and medical authorities.