‘My husband died while helpless.’ Surgeon removed wrong organ at hospital, lawyer says
An Alabama woman and her husband were visiting their rental property in Florida in August when he felt pain on the left side of his body. They went to a local hospital, where an encouraged surgical procedure led to his death, the woman’s attorney said.
William Bryan, 70, was supposed to have his spleen removed, but a surgeon took out his liver by mistake at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County, according to Zarzaur Law, P.A., which is representing his wife, Beverly.
He died during the surgery, the law firm said in an Aug. 30 news release. Bryan’s procedure was performed by Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, an operative report shows.
Afterward, it was discovered that the organ Shaknovsky thought was and labeled as Bryan’s spleen was actually his liver, according to Zarzaur Law.
In a surgical pathology report written by Dr. Robert Blanchard, the pathologist noted the organ removed from Bryan’s body, which was “designated” as a spleen, was a “grossly identifiable” liver that was partly torn.
When Shaknovsky wrongly removed the liver, he tore the blood vessels that connected to the organ, “causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” Zarzaur Law said in a statement.
Shaknovsky didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment Sept. 3.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, which is run by Ascension, a non-profit Catholic health care system that has 140 hospitals in the U.S., said in a statement to McClatchy News on Sept. 3 that “we take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event.”
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family,” the statement said, and added that the hospital doesn’t “comment on specific patient cases or active litigation.”
Beverly Bryan is calling for civil and criminal proceedings over her husband’s death. Attorney Joe Zarzaur, who she hired to represent her, said the firm’s goal is to “get justice for the Bryan family.”
Her legal counsel plans to file a lawsuit after a pre-litigation process takes place.
“My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr. Shaknovsky,” Beverly Bryan said in a statement.
William and Beverly Bryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, were married for 33 years, according to his obituary in the TimesDaily newspaper. He had three children, eight grandchildren and a dog named Tappy. He worked as a boilermaker before retirement and was also a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Vietnam, his obituary says.
Before his death, William Bryan had repeatedly refused surgery, the operative report shows. He asked to be released and wanted to drive to Alabama to see his doctor after he was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital on Aug. 18, according to the report.
According to Zarzaur Law, Shaknovsky and another doctor “persuaded” him to undergo surgery due to an issue with his spleen and warned “serious complications” could occur if he left their care.
After the surgery, Shaknovsky told his wife that William Bryan’s “‘spleen’ was so diseased that it was four times bigger than usual and had migrated to the other side of (his) body,” the firm said.
The spleen, which was never removed, was discovered to have a small cyst on it, according to the firm.
Beverly Bryan’s counsel accuses Shaknovsky of wrongly removing part of a patient’s pancreas during another procedure in 2023.
In her statement, she said “I don’t want anyone else to die due to his incompetence at a hospital that should have known or knew he had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical mistakes.”
Shaknovsky has no disciplinary cases or public complaints filed against him as of Sept. 3, according to Florida Department of Health records.
This story was originally published September 3, 2024 at 2:30 PM with the headline "‘My husband died while helpless.’ Surgeon removed wrong organ at hospital, lawyer says."
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