A tragic death on the Gulf Coast is gaining national attention after an Alabama man, Bill Bryan, died on the operating table at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Florida. The family’s attorney claims the 70-year-old passed away when the surgeon mistakenly removed his liver instead of his spleen during emergency surgery.
Bill Bryan, a loving father and grandfather from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was visiting the Panhandle with his wife, Beverly Bryan, when he began experiencing severe pain in his side. The couple went to the emergency room at Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital, where Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky informed Beverly that Bill needed an immediate spleen removal. However, what followed was a fatal mistake.
“He bled to death on the operating room table. Everyone knows you can’t live without your liver. It’s about the same thing as if they had pulled out his heart,” Beverly Bryan said, heartbroken over the loss of her husband. According to the hospital’s pathology report, Dr. Shaknovsky had labeled the removed organ as a “spleen,” but it was, in fact, Bill’s liver.
The family’s attorney, Joe Zarzaur, expressed disbelief over the fatal error. “ALL the doctors that I speak to say it’s virtually impossible for a surgeon, who’s board-certified in general surgery, to mistake a liver for a spleen. I tend to agree with that,” Zarzaur said. He added that Beverly is determined to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening to another family.
“My job as a trial lawyer for plaintiffs is to affect change through money,” Zarzaur explained. “What that means is we make it so painful to the defendants in the case that they don’t act this way again.”
The family is currently going through Florida’s mandatory pre-suit process before potentially filing a lawsuit against Dr. Shaknovsky and Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital.
Adding to the concerns, Zarzaur revealed that Dr. Shaknovsky had been involved in a similar case in recent years. In that instance, the surgeon allegedly misidentified the pancreas as the adrenal gland during surgery at the same hospital. That patient survived, and the case was settled in 2023.
As Beverly Bryan grieves the loss of her husband, she is determined to seek justice for Bill. “The loss of my Bill was exceptionally unnecessary and brutal,” she said, hoping no other family has to endure the same heartache.