Khaberni - A surgeon in Florida, USA, is facing a second-degree manslaughter charge after performing a fatal surgery in which he removed the patient's liver instead of the spleen.
Dr. Thomas Shachnafsky, 44, was arrested on Monday after a two-year investigation into the death of a 70-year-old man from Alabama in August 2024, led by local law enforcement in cooperation with medical authorities, according to the Walton County Sheriff's Office as reported by the "CBS" network.
Shachnafsky, who is barred from practicing medicine in Florida, Alabama, and New York, was held in Walton County Jail after a grand jury returned an indictment against him.
An elderly man from Alabama arrived at "Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast" hospital in Miramar Beach suffering from abdominal pain on August 18, 2024. Shachnafsky recommended surgery, but the patient refused and wanted to return home. However, Shachnafsky pressured him until he agreed to undergo a laparoscopic spleen removal surgery.
The surgery was scheduled for late on August 21 of the same year, raising concerns among the operating room staff who mentioned they were working with limited capacity and expressed fears about the doctor's lack of experience and skills in the emergency department.
Operating room documents stated that "the staff knew that spleen removal surgeries were complex and could quickly deteriorate, and were not regularly performed at this hospital".
Shachnafsky began the operation laparoscopically but later decided to convert it into an open surgery without properly documenting the reasons, as per the emergency request.
During the operation, the patient began to bleed heavily and his vital signs dropped, which led the team to call for an emergency state, and the patient eventually died.
In an interview with the authorities, the doctor claimed he had controlled the bleeding, believing he had removed an organ he thought was the spleen, and later admitted that he could not accurately identify the organ, claiming that the spleen was abnormally enlarged and that the liver was in an unusual position.
However, testimonies from the operating room staff provided a different narrative, confirming that the doctor performed the operation chaotically and did not adhere to standards nor request the necessary tools.
The staff confirmed that the doctor misidentified the organ he intended to remove and instead removed the liver, noting that the liver is an entirely different organ in terms of size, color, and location.
Despite resuscitation attempts, the patient died. The doctor told the team that the cause of death was a splenic artery rupture and insisted on classifying the removed organ as "spleen" for pathological examination. However, the medical examiner found no evidence of a rupture in the spleen's artery.
Shachnafsky denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the patient's organs were suffering from unnatural deformities or had "shifted" to unusual positions.
Shachnafsky has a controversial medical record, and he submitted a request to suspend his license in Florida, as authorities documented another incident that caused harm to another patient.
Two months prior to the fatal operation, the doctor performed a surgery on a 58-year-old patient, removing part of the pancreas instead of the adrenal gland during an adrenal gland removal procedure, according to Florida's Department of Health.
The doctor claimed he had removed the left adrenal gland and later alleged that it had "moved" from its place. The patient suffered permanent disability as a result of this error, according to health officials.
According to the Alabama Medical Board, the doctor was scheduled to perform a colostomy in July 2023 but instead performed an intestinal resection, causing an internal puncture to the patient who later died.
The doctor's license was suspended in Florida in September 2024 and in New York in 2025.
