The man had a vital organ mistakenly removed
A man from Alabama has died on an operating table in Florida after a surgeon accidently removed the wrong organ, as claimed by a lawyer.
William Bryan and his wife Beverly were visiting their rental property in Florida when William suddenly started to experience pain in his lower left abdominal.
The 70-year-old from Alabama was subject to further testing concerning an abnormality of the spleen, Zarzaur Law, the firm representing his family said on Friday.
William and his family were reluctant to undergo surgery at the hospital, but were persuaded by a general surgeon, doctor and the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer to have the operation according to the law firm.
William agreed and underwent a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy procedure on 21 August.
However, the operation went wrong and the general surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, mistakenly removed the patient’s liver.
During the surgery the major vasculature that supplied the liver was cut leading to “immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death.”
Following the cut, the surgeon then went on to remove the organ and label it as the spleen, which was only identified as the liver after William had died.
The surgeon explained to William’s wife Beverly that his “‘spleen’ was so diseased that it was four times bigger than usual and had migrated to the other side of [his] body.”
In the abdominal cavity of the human body, the liver is located in the upper right side while the Spleen is located in the upper left side and is significantly smaller than the liver.
The liver weighs approximately 1.4kg while the spleen only weighs around 200g and is the size of a fist.
The law firm claims that Dr Shaknovsky has previous allegation against him too, allegedly removing a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing an adrenal gland resection as intended, in 2023.
The case was settled outside of court.
Beverly has hired the law firm to get “justice” for William and is hoping to stop the general surgeon from treating any other patients.
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She said: “My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr Shaknovsky. 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,” the widow said in a statement through the law firm.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital where the surgery took place has said it was investigating Bryan’s death and released a statement.
It said: “We take allegations like this very seriously, and our leadership team is performing a thorough investigation into this event. 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.”
Following on from William’s death, a small cyst was apparently discovered on his spleen, believed to be the source of his pain.
