Doctors and hospitals are not pleasant experiences for most people.
But one 70-year-old man was especially nervous about his upcoming surgery, and it looks like his gut was right.
And now, a Florida doctor lost his license after performing the most horrifying act ever on a 70-year-old man.
Vulnerable and in pain
It is a vulnerable feeling to go under anesthesia and trust another human being to do their job right.
But doctors, surgeons especially, undergo significant training preparing them for the job.
They do not work alone and have a team of other medical professionals in the room in case things go wrong.
So, when 70-year-old William Bryan was experiencing stomach pain and was told he needed surgery on his enlarged spleen, he vehemently refused, Vice reported.
For three days, Bryan would not agree to surgery, but the pain was so great he finally reluctantly agreed.
Little did Bryan know that this surgery would end up killing him.
A surgeon did the unthinkable
Dr. Shaknovsky was supposed to perform a laparoscopic splenectomy but decided to change the procedure to an “open procedure” because of “poor visibility”, VICE reported.
But during the surgery, Shaknovsky removed Bryan’s liver, not his spleen.
Bryan began to decline fast and was pronounced dead.
Tragic.
But then the surgeon tried to cover it up in his report claiming Bryan died of a “ruptured splenic artery aneurysm.”
The horrified staff witnessed something different, and in a shocking report revealed what actually happened.
Sure enough, the autopsy revealed the doctor never removed the spleen but removed the liver instead.
And while Bryan was fighting for his life, Shaknovsky continued to make the wrong decisions, which resulted in Bryan’s death.
Even more shocking, this was not Shaknovsky’s first offense.
The report detailed that while operating on a previous patient, Shaknovsky was supposed to remove the patient’s adrenal gland, but instead removed a portion of the patient’s pancreas, causing long-term harm to the patient.
After both incidents, his license was finally suspended.
But a suspended license does not bring back Bryan who suffered under a doctor who was clearly not fit to serve.
A grieving widow
One cannot even begin to imagine the anger and pain Bryan’s now widow is experiencing.
Her husband went in for a simple surgery that was supposed to relieve his pain, and now he is dead.
For a doctor, to remove the wrong organ is simply unconscionable.
Bryan’s grieving widow does not want any other family to suffer under this doctor’s negligent hands, so she is pursuing both criminal and civil charges.
After hiring Joe Zarzaur as her attorney, the widow simply said “My husband died while helpless on the operating room table by Dr. Shaknovsky. I don’t want anyone else to die due to his incompetence at a hospital that should have known or knew he had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical mistakes.”
Good for her.
She is exactly right.
The doctor’s gross incompetence was not just a simple “mistake,” it was a deadly one.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
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