A Florida surgeon has been indicted for manslaughter after prosecutors said he removed a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during an August 2024 procedure that proved fatal.
Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted by a grand jury in Tallahassee on Monday, according to the source report. Prosecutors said the surgery involved 70-year-old William Bryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The indictment comes more than a year after the operation, which authorities say was botched and resulted in Bryan dying on the table.
The case centers on a serious surgical error in which the wrong organ was removed. According to the report, the intended procedure involved the spleen, but the liver was removed instead.
The grand jury charge marks a major legal step in the aftermath of the fatal operation. Manslaughter charges in such cases indicate prosecutors believe the conduct rose beyond a medical mistake and into criminally negligent or unlawful behavior, though the source item does not provide further detail about the specific allegations presented to the grand jury.
Shaknovsky, identified in the report as a Florida surgeon, is now facing the consequences of the August 2024 surgery that left Bryan dead. The case has drawn attention because of both the nature of the error and the fact that the patient did not survive the procedure.
No additional information was provided in the source item about the circumstances leading up to the operation, the hospital where it took place, or the current status of the surgeon beyond the indictment.
The fatal surgery and subsequent indictment place renewed focus on operating room safeguards and the high stakes of surgical decision-making, especially when procedures involve critical organs. In this case, prosecutors say the error was severe enough to support a manslaughter charge.
