A Florida doctor has been indicted in connection with the death of a 70-year-old man who had the wrong organ removed during surgery.
Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted by a grand jury with second-degree manslaughter in the August 2024 death of the man of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit said.
He was taken into custody in Miramar Beach, Florida, on Monday morning and transported to the Walton County Jail ahead of his court appearance Tuesday.
Prosecutors allege that on Aug. 21, 2024, during what was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, Shaknovsky accidentally removed the victim's liver instead of his spleen. The move resulted in "catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table," a press release said.
In a phone call, the victim's widow, Beverly Bryan, identified her husband, Bill Bryan.
"When I tell people what happened, it still sounds too awful to be true that, that could happen," she said. "I still have trouble believing it happened myself. Can you imagine?"
After the surgery, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners filed a court order to temporarily suspend Shaknovsky's medical license. That license was revoked by the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission that same year.
His Florida license was also suspended in 2024, and his New York license was suspended in 2025.
The court order to suspend his license states that Shaknovsky recommended surgery after the 70-year-old patient came into the hospital, Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Emerald Coast, with complaints of abdominal pain, and imaging "revealed a suspected enlarged spleen and blood in the peritoneum with no active hemorrhage."
For the next two days, Shaknovsky advised the patient, who wanted to return home to Alabama, to get surgery, the filing says. On the third day, Shaknovsky "continued to pressure" the patient, who then acquiesced, according to the filing.
Shaknovsky continued the operation even while the patient went into cardiac arrest during the surgery, according to the filing.
"Dr. Shaknovsky removed an organ he believed to be the spleen, but due to his shock and the chaos, he was unable to properly identify the organ," the filing states.
After the surgery, the doctor said that the patient died of a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm, the filing states.
An autopsy found "no evidence of a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm," according to the filing. And while the patient's "spleen and its attachments were untouched and in the normal position, his liver was missing," the filing alleged.
A representative for Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Emerald Coast did not immediately return a request for comment.
The filing also accused Shaknovsky of two other instances of malpractice, one of which the board alleges led to the death of another patient.
In that case, the board accused Shaknovsky of removing part of a patient's pancreas during a routine surgery in May 2023, in which the patient was supposed to have their left adrenal gland removed.
The board also accused Shaknovsky of removing part of a patient's intestine during another procedure in July 2023, causing a gastrointestinal perforation, where a hole develops in the intestine. Shortly after the surgery, the patient was moved to the ICU and died, the filing states.
A representative for the board did not immediately return a request for comment.
In 2024, Shaknovsky settled a malpractice claim regarding the May 2023 incident for $400,000, according to public records from the Florida Department of Health.
In 2025, Beverly Bryan filed a civil complaint against Shaknovsky, accusing the surgeon of causing her husband's death. The outcome of the case was still pending when Shaknovsky was taken into custody this week.
"He would want his death to prevent someone else from being hurt, which is what I think the criminal charges being brought will do," Beverly Bryan said of her husband. "If we had to suffer through this and he had to die, then at least no one else will be hurt by this man now."
Despite the accusations, Shaknovsky indicated he has "never been asked to or allowed to resign from or had any medical staff privileges restricted or revoked within the last 10 years," according to public records from the Florida Department of Health.
Shaknovsky could not be reached for comment, and it is unclear whether he has retained an attorney. The State Attorney’s Office of the First Judicial Circuit did not immediately return a request for comment.
Shaknovsky graduated from Midwestern University's Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2009, according to public records.
