A former Florida surgeon was indicted by a Walton County grand jury on a charge of second-degree manslaughter after authorities say he removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen during a procedure in 2024 at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach. The Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit announced in a release that Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky was charged in connection with the death of 70-year-old Bill Bryan of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Prosecutors allege the surgery had been scheduled as a laparoscopic splenectomy, a minimally invasive operation to remove the spleen, but the inadvertent removal of Bryan’s liver led to catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table. A Walton County grand jury found that the surgeon’s actions in the operating room constituted criminal conduct under Florida law.
Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor, Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said in a news release. The Grand Jury has spoken, and our responsibility is to ensure the charges are carried out through the proper legal process. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family and their unspeakable loss. Adkinson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Available court records did not list an attorney for Shaknovsky, and it is unclear whether he has retained legal representation. Following Bryan’s death in 2024, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners filed a court order to suspend Shaknovsky’s medical license, which was granted that same year. His Florida medical license was also suspended in 2024, followed by a suspension of his New York license in 2025.
The Florida court order to suspend Shaknovsky’s license revealed that he had previously made similar mistakes and attempted to cover them up. In May 2023, he removed a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of the adrenal gland. When questioned about the error, he claimed the adrenal gland had migrated to another part of the body, a claim the patient’s subsequent injury suggested was inaccurate. The order noted that Shaknovsky’s repeated egregious surgical errors caused significant patient harm and that his failure to take responsibility indicated his reckless conduct was likely to continue, making his continued practice as an osteopathic physician a danger to public health and safety.
Shaknovsky is being held at the Walton County Jail and awaiting further legal proceedings.
