A Florida grand jury has indicted surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky on second-degree manslaughter charges for the August 2024 death of 70-year-old William Bryan of Alabama.
Bryan came in for a routine laparoscopic splenectomy. Shaknovsky instead opened the abdominal cavity, severed Bryan's largest vein using a surgical stapling device, and excised his healthy liver while Bryan bled out. The spleen was never touched. The Florida Department of Health investigation documents this sequence in full.
The charge was brought after coordination between the Walton County Sheriff's Office, the Office of the State Attorney First Judicial Circuit, and state medical authorities. Read the original for the health department investigation, which details exactly how this procedural catastrophe unfolded step by step.
[READ ORIGINAL →]