A Florida surgeon has had his medical license suspended by the state after he was accused of removing a man's liver instead of his spleen during surgery, causing the patient to bleed to death on the operating table.
A reprehensible emergency order from the Florida Department of Health says Dr. Thomas Shakhnovsky's removal of Alabama resident Bill Bryan's liver instead of his spleen was a “serious medical error” that made him an “immediate and significant danger” to the public.
The order details Shakhnovsky's alleged “egregious conduct,” saying he went to great lengths to cover up his mistakes, including falsifying medical records, lying about the facts and pressuring others to lie about the facts.
Brian, 70, died on August 21 during surgery performed by Dr. Shakhnovsky at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach, Florida.
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According to an emergency order from the Florida Department of Health, Bill Bryan (left) died after his liver was removed, but not his spleen. (Zarzaul Law Firm)
Brian and his wife, Beverly, were visiting a rental property in Destin on August 18 when Brian began feeling pain in his side.
According to the order, when Brian arrived at the hospital he was told he had an enlarged spleen and Dr. Shakhnovsky said Brian needed to have his spleen removed immediately, which Brian refused to do.
“We called Bill's doctor here at home in Northwest Alabama, and he told Bill that there was a surgeon waiting in North Alabama when we got home,” Beverly said. He told local station WMBB“I tried to convince Dr. Shakhnovsky to let me take Bill home or arrange for him to be transported, but Dr. Shakhnovsky said Bill would bleed to death if he was moved.”
Three days after his admission, Shakhnovsky continued to pressure Bryan to undergo surgery, until Bryan finally relented, according to the order.
According to the order, operating room staff were concerned that Dr Shakhnovsky “did not have the skill level to safely perform” the “complex” surgery, but the operation went ahead.
According to the order, Shakhnovsky lied and gave multiple different accounts of what happened during the surgery, but ultimately admitted that at some point during the procedure he “blindly” fired a stapler into the abdomen and removed an organ “that he believed to be the spleen.”
He claimed that the spleen was grossly enlarged and deformed, and the liver was in an unusual position, causing organ confusion.
But witnesses in the operating room told a completely different story, according to the state's order. At one point, Shakhnovsky said he identified the vein he was about to cut and felt it pulsating under his fingers. “I'm scared,” he told staff members assisting him, according to the order.
The order details that after Brian's organs were removed, he suffered severe bleeding and went into cardiac arrest. Despite this, Shakhnovsky continued the dissection despite “no visibility” and never requested clamps or cauterization, the order states. Witnesses confirmed that Shakhnovsky “blindly” inserted staples into Brian's abdomen.
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Dr. Thomas Shakhnowski, a surgeon at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital, is accused of causing a tragic death in the operating room. (Zarzaul Law Firm)
According to the order, Shakhnovsky removed Brian's liver but identified it as his spleen, even though the two were different sizes and colors and were located on opposite sides of his body.
“Staff were shocked to see the easily identifiable liver placed on the table and when Dr. Shakhnovsky said it was a spleen,” the order read. “One staff member became nauseous.”
Dr. Shakhnovsky claimed that Mr. Bryan had died of a “ruptured splenic artery aneurysm” and made numerous attempts to convince the operating room staff that he was correct, despite the fact that he knew this was not true.
Shakhnovsky requested that the organ be labeled “spleen” and sent to pathology. The order states that the person responsible for labeling the organ knew it was not a spleen but did so anyway.
According to the order, Dr. Shakhnovsky went to the pathology department to re-examine the organs after “the chaos of the operation had passed,” but refused to admit his mistake. Instead, he falsified details in his operating instructions, claiming to have cut certain ligaments and tissues when they never were mentioned.
Fox News Digital reviewed the pathology report from Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast and confirmed that the organ removed from Brian was, in fact, his liver.
According to the state's order, removing Brian's liver instead of his spleen was not Shakhnovsky's first medical error. In May 2023, Shakhnovsky removed part of his pancreas instead of his adrenal glands, according to the order. When confronted about the error, Shakhnovsky claimed the adrenal glands had “migrated” to another part of his body.
The order states that the patient in this case suffered “long-term permanent harm.”
“Dr. Shakhnovsky's repeated, serious surgical errors have caused significant harm to patients, and his failure to take responsibility for these errors indicates that his reckless conduct will likely continue,” the order states. “Thus, Dr. Shakhnovsky's continued practice as an osteopathic physician poses an imminent and substantial danger to the public health, welfare, and safety.”
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William “Bill” Bryan died after surgeons mistakenly removed his liver instead of his spleen, “causing immediate and devastating blood loss.” (Zarzaul Law Firm)
Beverly Bryan is pursuing both criminal and civil lawsuits in relation to her husband's death, according to Zazaul Law, a Florida law firm representing the family.
“My husband died helplessly on Dr. Shakhnovsky's operating table. I don't want anyone else to die because of my husband's incompetence, even though the hospital should have known he had previously made serious, life-changing surgical errors,” Brian's widow, Beverly, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast for comment on Shakhnovsky's suspension but did not immediately receive a response.
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The hospital previously told Fox News Digital that it was investigating Brian's death, but said it does not comment on specific patient cases or ongoing litigation.
“We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident,” said Ascension Sacred Heart spokesman Gary Nevolis. “Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has a long history of providing safe, quality care since opening in 2003. Patient safety has been and remains our number one priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”
