A Florida surgeon has been indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge after prosecutors say he removed a patient's liver instead of his spleen during a 2024 operation, causing catastrophic blood loss that killed the man on the operating table. The case, already one of the most shocking medical error allegations in the state in recent years, took a criminal turn this week when a Walton County grand jury returned the indictment against Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky.
According to The New York Times, the patient was 70-year-old William Bryan of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He died on Aug. 21, 2024, during what was supposed to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, a procedure to remove the spleen. Instead, authorities allege Shaknovsky removed Bryan's liver, which led to massive bleeding and his death in the operating room.
