Florida surgeon indicted after mistaking liver for spleen during surgery

A Florida surgeon, Thomas Shaknovsky, was indicted by a Walton County grand jury for second-degree manslaughter after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during an August 2024 splenectomy, causing catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death. Prosecutors say he pressed on with the operation and mislabeled the liver as a diseased spleen; Florida suspended his medical licenses and he was taken into custody, facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The victim was 70-year-old William Bryan of Alabama, who died on the operating table in Miramar Beach during the procedure.