A widow in Alabama is suing a surgeon and a Florida hospital after her husband died during surgery.
William Bryan was supposed to have his spleen removed, but the surgeon mistakenly removed his liver instead.
Even worse, the lawsuit claims the surgeon tried to hide his mistake by labeling the liver as a spleen.
This fatal error happened at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital in Florida while the Bryans were vacationing there.
The lawsuit says the surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, knew he had removed the wrong organ but pretended he had removed the spleen.
He even told other doctors and staff that Mr. Bryan died from a problem with his spleen’s artery, even though it was his liver that was gone.
Medical records confirm the mix-up: they initially referred to the removed organ as a spleen, but a later report showed it was actually the liver.
This wasn’t the surgeon’s first mistake, according to the lawsuit. It claims he caused another patient’s death the year before by accidentally damaging their bowel during gallbladder surgery.
After that incident, he took some time off. The lawsuit also alleges he made several other surgical errors, including operating on the wrong body part in another patient, but the hospital still let him operate.
The family argues that the hospital knew Dr. Shaknovsky was a danger but kept him on staff because he brought in money for the hospital. They also claim the hospital should have known that nurses are often afraid to report problems with surgeons and should have better safety measures in place.
The lawsuit says that patients had even complained to the Florida Department of Health about the surgeon’s mistakes, and that the doctor would sometimes talk about religion to avoid discussing surgical complications.
The family is asking for more than $50,000 in damages. Their lawyer, Joe Zarzaur, said the family is devastated by this tragedy and wants justice.
He says the surgeon’s mistakes and the hospital’s alleged cover-up caused irreparable harm, and no family should suffer like this because of medical negligence.