Pensacola News Journal – Civil and possible criminal charges are being considered after the death of an Alabama man who died when a surgeon at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast mistakenly removed the patient’s liver instead of his spleen, “causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death.”
William “Bill” Bryan, 70, and his wife, Beverly, are from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and they were visiting their condo in Destin, in Okaloosa County, when Bill began experiencing pain in his left-side.
He was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach over suspected medical problems with his spleen.
The Bryan family’s attorney, Joe Zarzaur in Pensacola, says general surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, and the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Christopher Bacani, persuaded the Bryans not to return home for the surgery, but to have it in Florida, even though they were reluctant.
According to medical records provided by Zarzaur Law, on Aug. 21, 2024, Shaknovsky proceeded with a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure.
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.
Bill Bryan’s wife of 33 years, Beverly Bryan is devastated. As a nurse herself, her first inclination was to return home where she said doctors were ready and waiting to treat him.
She said Dr. Shaknovsky convinced her it was too dangerous because her husband might “bleed to death if he was moved.” Instead, he bled to death in the operating room …
