Florida surgeon who accidentally removed patient’s liver previously lost another patient during botched operation: complaint

A Florida-based surgeon who mistakenly removed a man’s liver also had a female patient previously die after a last-minute procedure change, according to a new complaint leveled against him.

Thomas Shaknovsky had his medical license suspended in Florida on Sept. 24 after his patient, William Bryan, bled out during a splenectomy gone wrong. The embattled physician has now also had his license suspended in Alabama following a new complaint filed by the state’s Board of Medical Examiners on Oct. 22, as reported by McClatchy News.

The complaint alleges that Shaknovsky was negligent in the August death of Bryan, of Alabama; his treatment of a patient who had part of his pancreas removed instead of his adrenal gland in May 2023, as well as the death of a female patient who faced complications following surgery in July 2023.

The female patient was scheduled to undergo an ileostomy, a procedure meant to create a hole in a person’s stomach to change the way waste exits their body, according to the United Ostomy Associations of America.

Instead, Shaknovsky decided to change course entirely and “opted to perform a bowel resection on [her] which resulted in perforation,” according to the complaint.

A bowel resection involves removing “any part of the bowel,” including the small or large intestine, according to WebMD. The resection marks the third known instance of Shaknovsky performing an unnecessary removal of a whole or partial piece of an organ during surgery.

The woman’s “health deteriorated post-operatively and she was moved to the ICU where she later died,” according to the complaint, which did not state when she died. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration also launched an investigation, according to the complaint.

The investigation determined that Shaknovsky and the other doctors involved in the surgery “failed to appropriately use diagnostic testing and delayed in ordering imaging to timely treat sepsis,” according to the complaint.

Attorney Joe Zarzaur, who represents Bryan’s wife, claimed in an Instagram video that Shaknovsky cannot legally practice medicine anywhere in the US at this time.

Another former patient of Shaknovsky’s also hired Zarzaur following complications during his colon surgery in July 2024. The patient also alleged that Shaknovsky had threatened him when he first considered seeking legal representation following the surgery. same here, do we know what state

A hearing regarding Shaknovsky’s license suspension is set to be held Dec. 18, according to the Alabama suspension order.