Florida doctor faces manslaughter charge for allegedly removing wrong organ during surgery
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. — A grand jury indicted a Florida doctor on a manslaughter charge for allegedly removing a patient's liver instead of his spleen during a 2024 surgery.
The prosecutor for the First Judicial Circuit on Monday announced the charge of second-degree manslaughter against Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky.
Prosecutors said that during an Aug. 21, 2024, surgery, which was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, Shaknovsky removed the victim’s liver instead of his spleen. That resulted in “catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table,” law enforcement officials wrote in a press release, The patient was a 70-year-old man from Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
“Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they lead, without fear or favor,” Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said in a statement.
Available court records did not name an attorney for Shaknovsky.
Florida suspended Shaknovsky's medical license after the surgery. Records show he voluntarily surrendered his medical license in Alabama after regulators moved to revoke his license.
'You have to check your entire body' The test represents the latest effort to combat Lyme, the most common tick-borne disease in the United States. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa spoke with local experts on what you can do to prevent this disease.
'You have to check your entire body' The test represents the latest effort to combat Lyme, the most common tick-borne disease in the United States. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa spoke with local experts on what you can do to prevent this disease.
