Exactly what went wrong during the planned splenectomy has remained a mystery \u2014 especially since Shaknovsky has not spoken publicly about the case.<\/p>\n
A deposition Shaknovsky gave in November as part of the lawsuit offers his first detailed, emotional account of the operation. Shaknovsky said there were unusual factors that made Bryan\u2019s procedure more difficult. And he described the profound toll of losing a patient, saying he broke down in tears afterward.<\/p>\n
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Officers arrest Thomas Shaknovsky in Miramar Beach, Fla., on April 13. (Walton County Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/p>\n
(Walton County Sheriff\u2019s Office)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply, and I\u2019m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,\u201d he said, according to a transcript of the deposition shared with NBC News by attorney Joe Zarzaur, who represents Bryan\u2019s widow, Beverly Bryan.<\/p>\n
Wrong-site surgeries can occur \u201cduring difficult circumstances,\u201d Shaknovsky said, which in this case included blood in Bryan\u2019s abdomen and an enlarged colon obstructing Shaknovsky\u2019s view of other organs.<\/p>\n
Shaknovsky said that while he was trying to get a better view as the operation was underway, Bryan started bleeding profusely, causing his heart to stop. As the operating room team did chest compressions, Shaknovsky said, he desperately tried to find the source of the bleeding. It was during that chaotic time that he accidentally removed Bryan\u2019s liver rather than his spleen.<\/p>\n
Shaknovsky then instructed a nurse to label the organ he removed as a spleen \u2014 which typically weighs less than 15% of a liver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t explain to you what it\u2019s like for a surgeon to lose a patient on a table and how demoralizing it is and how devastating it is. And I couldn\u2019t tell the difference because I was so upset,\u201d Shaknovsky said of mixing up the organs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a devastating thing, which I will have to live with the rest of my life,\u201d he said in the transcript, which is about 400 pages long, \u201cand I think about it every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
More from NBC News on Shaknovsky<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have not offered a detailed timeline of how the surgery unfolded. A medical examiner determined Bryan died of \u201cexsanguination,\u201d or bleeding to death, and \u201csurgical removal of the liver,\u201d according to his death certificate.<\/p>\n
Neither Shaknovsky nor his attorneys responded to a request for comment on his deposition. The lawsuit, which also names Shaknovsky\u2019s former private practice, is ongoing. Shaknovsky and the practice have denied intentional wrongdoing in court filings.<\/p>\n
Do you have a story to share? Email reporters elizabeth.chuck@nbcuni.com and matthew.lavietes@nbcuni.com or reach us at our tip line<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bryan, a veteran from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had been visiting Florida with his wife when he began experiencing pain on his left side, according to Beverly Bryan\u2019s lawsuit. The couple went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach, where, according to the lawsuit, Shaknovsky convinced them that Bryan urgently needed a splenectomy, despite the couple\u2019s wanting to return home to Alabama.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, the hospital where the operation took place, said in a statement last month<\/a> that Shaknovsky was not employed directly by the health system and that he has not practiced at any of its facilities since August 2024. The statement added that safety is the hospital\u2019s top priority.<\/p>\n In his deposition, Shaknovsky said that he had met briefly with Bryan several times in the days leading up to the surgery and that they had connected over a shared love of Alabama college football. He described praying with the Bryans before the operation began.<\/p>\n Once they were in the operating room, however, the procedure did not go as planned. Shaknovsky said that Bryan began bleeding heavily and that he could not figure out where the blood was coming from.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a overflown sink that\u2019s clogged up, and I am looking for a fork at the bottom, trying to feel and find the bleed, and I was not able to do so,\u201d he said, according to the deposition. \u201cAfter 20 minutes of struggling, desperately trying to save his life, that\u2019s when the wrong-site event took place.\u201d<\/p>\n The liver, the body’s largest internal organ, and the spleen are both under the rib cage. (Anuj Shrestha for NBC News; Leila Register )<\/p>\n (Anuj Shrestha for NBC News; Leila Register)<\/p>\n The spleen is nestled under the ribs on the left side of the body, while the liver is anchored under the right side of the ribs. Asked repeatedly by Zarzaur, the attorney, during his deposition how he could have taken out the wrong organ, Shaknovsky said he expected Bryan\u2019s diseased spleen would be \u201cdouble the size of what is normal\u201d because it had a mass on it \u2014 though Beverly Bryan\u2019s lawsuit says the medical examiner later told her that Bryan\u2019s spleen was anatomically \u201cnearly normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaknovsky insisted the error was not due to a lack of anatomical understanding: He said he learned the difference between a spleen and a liver early \u2014 \u201cin junior high, probably during science class.\u201d<\/p>\n After efforts to resuscitate Bryan failed, Shaknovsky said, he went to the hospital\u2019s medical library, bereft.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a quiet place, and I went there \u2014 I went there to cry because I was devastated,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want the staff to see me like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaknovsky said that as he wrote up the postoperative note for Bryan, which misidentified the removed organ as a spleen, he found himself \u201cmentally compromised.\u201d Asked what he meant by that, he said, \u201cdevastated, demoralized, crying over his passing, felt that I failed him.\u201d<\/p>\n Beverly Bryan\u2019s suit accuses Shaknovsky of medical malpractice and says he \u201cwrongfully omitted any reference to Mr. Bryan\u2019s liver being removed in order to \u2018cover up\u2019 his gross negligence\/recklessness and to hopefully avoid the embarrassment due to such derelict care.\u201d<\/p>\n Bryan\u2019s death is not the first allegation of medical malpractice that Shaknovsky has faced. In May 2023, he was alleged to have removed part of a patient\u2019s pancreas instead of his adrenal gland, according to a claim with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. The patient survived, and the case was settled out of court. Months later, Shaknovsky was alleged to have failed to recognize signs of sepsis after abdominal surgery, leading to a woman\u2019s death in August 2023, according to an ongoing lawsuit her son filed in October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shaknovsky, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, had been licensed to practice in several states. After Bryan\u2019s death, he lost his licenses in Florida, Alabama and New York.<\/p>\n Following his indictment last month in connection with Bryan\u2019s death, Shaknovsky was arrested in Miramar Beach while he was working as a Lyft driver<\/a>. Body camera video of his arrest obtained by NBC News showed armed deputies swarming around Shaknovsky, who had two passengers in the back seat when he was apprehended.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9eb7a523bac2c6fc32d1b3c5d4e7e8d9.jpeg\"\/)
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