Surgeon charged after removing patient’s liver instead of spleen

A Florida grand jury has indicted surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky on a second-degree manslaughter charge following the 2024 death of a 70-year-old patient whose liver was mistakenly removed during a scheduled spleen surgery.

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U.S. surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was arrested on Monday, April 13, 2026, and indicted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter following the catastrophic death of a patient during a botched surgical procedure. The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Walton County, Florida, follows a nearly two-year investigation into the August 2024 death of 70-year-old William Bryan. Investigators alleged that Shaknovsky mistakenly extracted Mr. Bryan’s liver—an organ located on the opposite side of the abdominal cavity and significantly larger than the target—during what was supposed to be a routine spleen removal. The error resulted in immediate, massive hemorrhage and cardiac arrest on the operating table

The court heard harrowing testimony from operating room staff who claimed they raised concerns about the surgeon’s skill level before the procedure even began. According to prosecutors, Shaknovsky pressured the patient for three days to undergo the surgery at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital despite Mr. Bryan’s desire to return to Alabama for treatment. During the operation, the scene turned chaotic when Shaknovsky allegedly converted to an open surgery without proper documentation and “blindly” fired a stapling device into the abdomen. While he initially claimed the patient’s spleen had “migrated” and was “four times bigger than usual,” an autopsy later confirmed that the spleen remained in the body with only a minor, treatable cyst, while the liver had been entirely removed and mislabeled for pathology.

The manslaughter charge reflects a significant escalation in a case that has already seen Shaknovsky stripped of his medical licenses in Florida, Alabama, and New York. This was not the surgeon’s first major error; in 2023, he paid a $400,000 settlement after mistakenly removing a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of an adrenal gland. Following his first court appearance on Tuesday, April 14, Shaknovsky was released on a $75,000 bond. Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson stated, “Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor. The Grand Jury has spoken.” If convicted of the second-degree felony, Shaknovsky faces a maximum of 15 years in state prison.

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