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nyt graphic description of surgery gone horribly wrong
| UN peacekeeper | 04/16/26 |
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Date: April 16th, 2026 1:12 PM Author: UN peacekeeper In August 2024, Mr. Bryan, 70, and his wife, Beverly, of Muscle Shoals, Ala., were visiting their rental property in Okaloosa County, Fla., when Mr. Bryan was seized by pain.
Mr. Bryan underwent diagnostic imaging at the hospital on Aug. 18 that indicated his spleen was possibly enlarged, according to an account that Florida’s Health Department gave in an emergency order suspending Dr. Shaknovsky’s license in September 2024. There was blood in the membrane lining Mr. Bryan’s abdomen, but no signs of hemorrhaging, the filing said.
Dr. Shaknovsky told Mr. Bryan that he needed to have his spleen removed, a minimally invasive procedure that is still considered major surgery, with a recovery time of up to six weeks. The procedure, which was not regularly performed at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital, could have serious complications, the Health Department statement said. Over three days, Mr. Bryan declined to have the surgery and said he wished to return to Alabama for further medical care, but the Health Department said Dr. Shaknovsky “continued to pressure” Mr. Bryan.
Mr. Bryan eventually agreed to have the surgery in Florida and the procedure was scheduled for the afternoon of Aug. 21, 2024, the Health Department said.
Colleagues in the operating room “had concerns that Dr. Shaknovsky did not have the skill level to safely perform this procedure,” the Health Department said.
The signs of trouble came almost immediately.
Dr. Shaknovsky began the procedure as a laparoscopy but switched to open surgery because he could not clearly see the organs, having failed to document that Mr. Bryan had a distended colon that would have partly obstructed the view, according to the Health Department.
Staff members in the operating room later reported that Mr. Bryan’s colon “burst out of the abdominal cavity” after Dr. Shaknovsky opened his abdomen, and they began suctioning blood to clear visibility, the documents say. Dr. Shaknovsky then took a surgical stapling device to a vessel that he planned to cut to remove the organ, and fired the stapler.
Mr. Bryan immediately began hemorrhaging and went into cardiac arrest, with blood pouring out as nurses and other medical staff members attempted to suction it. They began an emergency transfusion and tried to revive him, the report said. Dr. Shaknovsky did not ask his colleagues for a clamp or cauterizer to quell the bleeding, and instead continued to dissect Mr. Bryan’s organ “even though the abdomen was full of blood,” the state said.
He eventually removed Mr. Bryan’s liver, thinking it was his spleen. The Health Department noted in its report that, in addition to being on different sides of the abdomen, “spleens and livers are anatomically distinct, have different consistencies, and are different colors.”
After Dr. Shaknovsky removed the organ, “The staff looked at the readily identifiable liver on the table and were shocked when Dr. Shaknovsky told them that it was a spleen,” the state documents said. “One staff member felt sick to their stomach.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/florida-surgeon-manslaughter-organ-removal.html |