A Florida doctor has been accused of removing the wrong organ from a man’s body, resulting in his death. The family of 70-year-old William “Bill” Bryan claims that surgeon Dr. Thomas Schaknowski mistakenly removed Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen, The Guardian reports. As of Wednesday, Schaknowski has not been charged, but the law firm hired by Bryan’s family said they plan to go to court.
According to the law firm, Brian went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital on August 18 after feeling pain in his flank area. The patient and his wife, Beverly, were informed of the surgery’s “risks, benefits and alternatives” before undergoing a splenectomy under surgeon Thomas Schaknowski on August 21. However, instead of removing Brian’s spleen, the doctor removed his liver, resulting in his untimely death.
“Dr. Schaknowski removed Mr. Bryan’s liver and, in doing so, severed the major blood vessel supplying the liver, causing immediate and catastrophic blood loss, resulting in death,” the statement said. “The surgeon began labeling the removed liver sample as ‘spleen,’ and it was only after death that it was recognized that the organ removed was Mr. Bryan’s liver, not the spleen.”
The lawyers also claimed that Shacknowski had a history of performing “surgery in the wrong place.” In 2023, the surgeon mistakenly removed a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing the intended adrenal gland resection. The law firm claimed the case was settled and the terms were not made public. Beverly Bryan said she hired the legal team to get “justice” for her husband.
In a statement, she said, “My husband died helplessly on the operating room table at the hands of Dr. Schaknowski. I don’t want anyone else to die because of the incompetence of a hospital that should have known or knew they had made huge, life-changing surgical mistakes before.” She is taking both civil and criminal action in the case.
Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital also released a statement, saying it takes “allegations of this nature very seriously, and our leadership team is thoroughly investigating this incident”.
