Man dies when Florida surgeon allegedly removes wrong organ
A shocking death is getting national attention after an Alabama man died on the operating table in a Florida hospital. The family's attorney says he died when the surgeon mistakenly removed the wrong organ.
It happened just two weeks ago at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital. The man was on a trip with his wife when he experienced pain in his side, so they went to the emergency room. The decisions made after that led to his death, the family's attorney said.
Bill Bryan, 70, was a loving father and grandfather in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. His family is now dealing with the huge void left by his death.
“I know I'm not the only wife that's lost her husband suddenly, but the loss of my Bill was exceptionally unnecessary and brutal," said his wife, Beverly Bryan.
Beverly and Bill were visiting Florida when Bill started experiencing pain in his side. They went to Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital. Beverly says Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky told her he needed his spleen removed immediately.
During the surgery, Bill died. The hospital's pathology report says the organ Dr. Shaknovsky removed was labeled "spleen" but was actually his liver.
“He bled to death on the operating room table. Everyone knows you can't live without your liver. It's about the same thing as if they had pulled out his heart," Beverly Bryan said.
Sister station WVTM reached out to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital for a statement Thursday and has not heard back.
In a statement to NBC, the hospital said, "Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has a longstanding history of providing safe, quality care since the hospital opened its doors in 2003. Patient safety is and remains our number one priority. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family. We hold the privacy of our patients in the highest regard. We do not comment on specific patient cases or active litigation."
The family's attorney said Beverly wants to make sure this doesn't happen to another family.
“ALL the doctors that I speak to say it's virtually impossible for a surgeon, who's board certified in general surgery, to mistake a liver for spleen. I tend to agree with that," said Joe Zarzaur, the family’s attorney.
“My job as a trial lawyer for plaintiffs is to affect change through money. And what that means is we make it so painful to the defendants in the case that they don't act this way again," he said.
In Florida, you can't file a lawsuit against a medical provider until you go through a pre-suit. That's what's happening now. In the future, if allowed, there could be a lawsuit against Dr. Shaknovsky and Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital.
According to Zarzaur, Dr. Shaknovsky was involved in a wrong-site surgery in the past few years also at Sacred Heart. He was sued because, during that surgery, he allegedly misidentified the pancreas as the adrenal gland.
That case was settled in 2023, and that patient survived.
