Overview
- Thomas Shaknovsky is charged with negligent homicide in Walton County, has pleaded not guilty, and is free on $75,000 bail.
- The Miramar Beach operation in August 2024 ended with William Bryan, 70, bleeding to death after his liver was removed instead of his spleen.
- An eight-hour interview in November 2025, published by NBC, quotes the surgeon saying he told a nurse to record the organ as a spleen and wrote that in post-op notes.
- A forensic pathologist and the widow dispute his claim that the spleen was abnormally large, saying it was nearly normal in size.
- If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000, and the widow’s civil suit claims he hid gross negligence.