A Florida grand jury indicted and charged a physician with manslaughter April 13 after he allegedly removed the wrong organ during surgery and caused the patient’s death.
A Walton County grand jury indicted Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky on second-degree manslaughter in connection with the fatal August 2024 procedure on a 70-year-old Alabama man, according to a Walton County Sheriff’s Office (WSCO) press release. The indictment follows an investigation led by the WSCO with support from the Office of the State Attorney from the First Judicial Circuit and other state and medical officials. The WSCO did not identify the patient.
Shaknovsky’s patient was set to receive a laparoscopic splenectomy, but Shaknovsky allegedly removed his liver rather than his spleen, resulting in severe loss of blood and the patient’s death on the surgery table, officials said. The grand jury decided there was probable cause that Shaknovsky’s alleged actions amounted to criminal conduct under Florida law and charged him. (RELATED: Teacher-Of-The-Year Hopeful Faces Firestorm After Explicit Photos Surface)
WCSO Sheriff Michael Adkinson addressed the decision. “Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor,” he said. “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.”
“We are committed to seeing this case through with the professionalism and integrity our community expects,” he continued.
WEAR News 3 identified the victim as William Bryan. Bryan and his wife had vacationed to their condo in Destin, Florida, from their home in Alabama when he started noting pain on his left side. Bryan was then taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, where Shaknovsky took him on as a patient.
Bryan’s wife, Beverly, alleged that she tried to convince the doctor to allow her to take her husband home. “But Dr. Shaknovsky said that Bill would bleed to death if he was moved,” she told the outlet.
Beverly launched a wrongful death lawsuit naming Shaknovsky and the hospital in January 2025. Shaknovsky’s medical license was suspended by the state of Florida in 2024 and stripped by the state of Alabama, according to the outlet. Shaknovsky also had a New York license that was suspended in 2025, NBC News reported. He graduated from Midwestern University’s Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2009, according to public records cited by the outlet.
The incident is not Shaknovsky’s first instance of alleged malpractice. Shaknovsky was accused of removing a portion of a patient’s pancreas instead of their left adrenal gland during a May 2023 surgery, according to a filing from the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners obtained by NBC News. Shaknovsky also allegedly removed part of a patient’s intestine, leading to a gastrointestinal perforation during a July 2023 surgery. The patient was transferred to the ICU and died, the filing alleged.
Shaknovsky was incarcerated at the county jail Monday, according to the WCSO. He was set to appear before a judge Tuesday, NBC News reported.
NBC News was unable to contact Shaknovsky for comment.