Man Dies on Operating Table After Surgeon Inexplicably Removes Wrong Organ: Attorney
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
It’s every tomophobians’ worst nightmare.
According to multiple reports, an alleged interstate case of a medical procedure going horrifically wrong has the family of the deceased accusing the doctor of gross malpractice.
William Bryan, a resident of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, according to AL.com, reportedly died after a Florida surgeon removed the wrong organ during an operation.
William and his wife, Beverly Bryan, were at their condo in Destin, Florida, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
During that visit, Mr. Bryan began feeling a pain in his left side.
From there, USA Today reported, Bryan was taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Walton County, Florida, on Aug. 18.
What happened next was, as the Bryan family’s attorney, Joe Zarzaur, put it, “one of the most egregious cases of medical malpractice that I’ve ever been involved with.”
Doctors reportedly discussed the potential risks with the Bryan family — but Zarzaur argued that it went a bit further than that.
“The doctors kept suggesting that it was too dangerous to move him, that his spleen could rupture, and they needed to go forward with the procedure,” Zarzaur said during a news conference, per the Journal.
The Bryans were reportedly “reluctant” to go through with the procedure, and considered traveling back home to Alabama for the surgery. But the family lawyer claimed that the general surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, and the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Christopher Bacani, successfully convinced the family to stay for the procedure.
The Journal chronicled: “Shaknovsky proceeded with a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure.”
The issue arose when the doctor removed an organ that was decidedly not a spleen.
“During the operation, Shaknovsky removed Bryan’s liver and, in so doing, transected the major vasculature supplying the liver, causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss that resulted in Bill Bryan’s death,” the Pensacola outlet noted, citing medical records obtained by Zarzaur’s firm.
Florida doctor removes wrong organ from patient, resulting in ‘immediate, catastrophic death’ https://t.co/YJe0CgDETV pic.twitter.com/tIqVlyVnXY
— New York Post (@nypost) September 4, 2024
Perhaps even more alarmingly, AL.com noted that Shaknovsky didn’t even notice the blatant surgical error at first.
The doctor reportedly labeled the removed liver as a “spleen.”
Zarzaur himself felt that the facts of this case were “so egregious,” he took to YouTube to proffer some details.
“We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event,” a hospital statement procured by multiple outlets read. “Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has a longstanding history of providing safe, quality care since the hospital opened its doors in 2003.”
“My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr. Shaknovsky,” Beverly Bryan said in a statement. “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.”
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