Florida Suspends Doctor’s License After Fatal Surgery That Removed Wrong Organ

A Florida surgeon’s license was suspended last week after he reportedly removed the wrong organ from a patient, leading to the man’s death.

Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, working at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital near Fort Walton Beach, made repeated surgical errors then fabricated medical records, according to a Sept. 24 emergency order from Florida’s surgeon general, made available through the patient’s attorney.

“Dr. Shaknovsky claimed that he fired the stapling device blindly into the abdomen and removed an organ that he believed to be a spleen,” reads the order from State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo.

Instead, Shaknovsky had removed the man’s liver and may have ruptured at least one artery, causing uncontrolled hemorraghing, according to the order and multiple news reports.

After the August surgery and death, the Florida Department of Health investigated.

“The witnesses in the OR consistently and clearly recounted a summary of events that is markedly more troublesome than Dr. Shaknovsky’s written account of what occurred,” Ladapo’s order reads.

Patient William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had reluctantly agreed to the surgery after he felt pain in his abdomen, while visiting his rental propery in the Florida Panhandle. Shaknovsky and another doctor in Alabama warned that complications would develop if the spleen was not removed, the Miami Herald reported.

Bryan’s widow hired Pensacola attorney Joe Zarzaur, who plans to file suit against the surgeon and the hospital system.

It’s not the first time Shaknovsky has removed the wrong part during surgery, the order notes. In May 2023, at the same Florida hospital, the surgeon removed part of a 58-year-old patient’s pancreas instead of an adrenal gland that had a growth on it.

The hospital, part of a Catholic health system with hospitals in 18 states, said in a statement that it is investigating. The system has a history of safe and quality care, hospital officials said, according to news reports.

The suspension order from Dr. Ladapo has raised its own questions. Lapado, appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has been sharply criticized in recent months for his repeated misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.