Husband William Bryan of Alabama dies on the operating table at a Florida hospital after Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky removes a liver

A man who suffered a medical emergency while on vacation in Florida died on the operating table after a surgeon mistakenly removed his liver instead of his spleen, according to the patient’s family.

William Bryan of Alabama was visiting the Florida Panhandle last month when he suddenly started experiencing pain in his left lower abdomen. He and his wife, Beverly, went to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital — which is located between Pensacola and Panama City.

Doctors suspected an abnormality in his spleen and referred him for further tests, the family’s lawyer said.

General surgeon Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky and lead physician Dr. Christopher Bacani persuaded Bryan, 70, to undergo emergency surgery at the hospital because otherwise he could face “serious complications if he leaves the hospital,” Zarzaur Law PA said on Facebook on Friday.

Bryan underwent a hand-assisted laparoscopic splenectomy on August 21.

In the middle of the surgery, Shaknovsky removed Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen, the law firm claims.

The surgical mishap resulted in “immediate and catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” the law firm said.

After the surgeon mistakenly removed Bryan’s liver, he labeled the organ as a “spleen,” the law firm claims. It was only after the man’s death that the organ was identified as a liver.

Shaknovsky allegedly told Beverly Bryan that her husband’s “spleen was so diseased that it was four times larger than normal and had migrated to the other side of his body,” the law firm claims.

In a typical human body, the liver is located in the upper right part of the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm and above the stomach, right kidney, and intestines.

The spleen, which is located in the left upper abdomen next to the stomach, is significantly smaller than the liver, weighs between 1.1 and 1.5 kilograms less and is about the size of a fist.

Zarzaur Law claimed that Shaknovsky had already performed a “wrong-site operation” last year, removing part of a patient’s pancreas instead of performing an adrenalectomy as intended.

The case was settled and the terms were not disclosed, the law firm claimed.

Beverly Bryan said she hired the law firm to get “justice” for her husband and hopes the general surgeon will stop treating other patients.

“My husband died while lying helpless on Dr. Shaknovsky’s operating table. I do not want anyone else to die in a hospital due to his incompetence when he should have known or knew that he had previously made drastic, life-altering surgical errors,” the widow said in a statement through the law firm.

Bryan said she is pushing for both a lawsuit and a criminal investigation into her husband’s death.

According to Zarzaur, North Walton Doctor’s Hospital has “distanced itself” from Shaknovsky and removed all photos and references to the doctor from its website.

Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital said in a statement that William Bryan’s death was under investigation, but no further details were released, citing confidentiality laws.

“We take allegations of this nature very seriously, and our leadership team is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident. Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has a long tradition of safe, high-quality care since opening in 2003,” the hospital said in a statement provided to AL.com.

“Patient safety is and will remain our top priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. The privacy of our patients is our highest priority. We do not comment on specific patient cases or ongoing litigation.”

After Bryan’s death, the coroner discovered a small cyst on his spleen, which was probably the cause of the pain that initially sent him to the hospital.