A surgeon in has been accused of killing a patient after he removed the patient’s liver rather than his spleen. He was later arrested while driving passengers for Lyft in a dramatic confrontation, NBC reported Saturday (IST).
The body camera video showed deputies with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office approaching with their weapons drawn on a Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle driven by Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky on April 13.
The 44-year-old surgeon was seemingly confused after deputies pulled him from the car and handcuffed him at a busy intersection in Miramar Beach, Florida. Amid the wail of sirens, Shaknovsky told deputies he had passengers in the back seat.
When he asked the officials what this was about, a deputy told him that it was for a manslaughter charge. Deputies then opened the rear door of his car, and two women got out, who told the authorities that they were on vacation and the surgeon had picked them up from a hotel.
Case against Shaknovsky
His arrest came nearly two years after William Bryan, a 70-year-old man, died on August 21, 2024, during what was supposed to be a laparoscopic surgery to remove his spleen. However, prosecutors alleged that the surgeon removed the patient’s liver, which resulted in catastrophic blood loss and subsequently his death. State records show Shaknovsky’s medical license was suspended about a month later.
The surgeon was sued by Bryan’s widow and also faces a lawsuit for a separate surgery he performed on another patient, Dorothy Dorsett. According to a lawsuit filed by her son, the 70-year-old woman died in August 2023, days after Shaknovsky removed a mass from her, but then allegedly failed to take measures to prevent sepsis. The are ongoing.
According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, a week before his arrest, the 44-year-old surgeon-turned-driver was indicted on a second-degree manslaughter charge, and said he and his attorney were given sufficient notice to voluntarily turn himself in before the deputies pulled him over.
Corey Dobridnia, spokeswoman for the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, said, Shaknovsky knew that he had a felony warrant, and he still chose to put people in his vehicle, and he ran that risk,” and added, “he has a felony warrant and a felony stop requires guns drawn, all of that.”
Shaknovsky, an osteopathic physician, was previously licensed in multiple states, but his licenses in Florida, , and New York were revoked after Bryan’s death.
He is scheduled to appear in court on May 19 and could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of second-degree manslaughter in connection with Bryan’s death.
What did the court documents reveal?
A court order suspending his license says Shaknovsky advised surgery after the 70-year-old patient was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital, Emerald Coast, with abdominal pain. Imaging reportedly indicated a possibly enlarged spleen and the presence of blood in the peritoneal cavity, with no active bleeding.
According to the filing, he continued to recommend surgery over the next two days, even as the patient expressed a desire to return home to Alabama. On the third day, the document states, Shaknovsky persisted in urging the procedure until the patient ultimately agreed.
The filing further alleges that Shaknovsky carried on with the operation even after the patient went into cardiac arrest during surgery.
Surgeon-turned-driver
According to his profile, Shaknovsky had been a driver for the ride-sharing platform for over a year now, with a five-star rating for more than 3,000 rides.
A spokesperson for the ride-sharing service said in a statement that the company was willing to support law enforcement in its investigation.
“As soon as we became aware of the driver’s arrest, we removed them from the Lyft platform and have been in contact with the ride requester to offer support,” the spokesperson said.
