Florida surgeon accused of removing wrong organ drove Lyft
· Toronto Sun
A Florida surgeon who allegedly killed his patients while operating on him by removing his liver instead of his spleen was driving a Lyft when he was arrested, video shows .
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The footage shows deputies from the Walton County Sherriff’s Office track down Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, who was driving a Mitsubishi SUV on April 13.
Deputies pulled Shaknovsky from the car and cuffed him in Miramar Beach, Fla., while he told deputies he had passengers in the back of the SUV. He now faces a charge of second-degree manslaughter.
Prosecutors allege that in August of 2024, Shaknovsky was conducting a surgery on William Bryan, a 70-year-old man from Muscle Shoals, Ala., that was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy , but instead of removing the man’s spleen, Shaknovsky removed his liver. Law officials said it resulted in “catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table.”
The State of Florida suspended Shaknovsky’s medical licence after the surgery. He surrendered his medical licence in Alabama after regulators moved to revoke it, according to records.
Not the first incident
Another patient of Shaknovsky ‘s died in 2023 following surgery. Dorothy Dorsett, 70, died after the doctor operated on her. She was admitted to hospital in July of that year after suffering abdominal pain, according to her son, Weyman Dorsett, who told NBC News she was in “great health.”
She was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding and acute blood loss anemia, according to the civil complaint.
Shaknovsky met the family who Dorsett described as “odd.” He said the surgeon prayed by his mother’s bed before surgery, which Dorsett found to be “over the top.”
Shaknovsky performed a colonoscopy and found a tumour in Dorothy’s digestive tract. He removed it on July 27, the complaint says, adding the doctor didn’t perform a routine test to ensure there were no leaks after the surgery.
The doctor told the family the surgery “went great,” but her condition started to deteriorate shortly thereafter. She died on Aug. 4.
“My mom looked at me and just said, ‘It is what it is. I’ve lived a good life,’” he said. “And I had to sit there and watch her die,” Dorsett told NBC.