Surgical staff admitted they lacked confidence in the Florida surgeon whose botched organ removal procedure resulted in the death of a patient on the operating table.
In August, investigators said Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky cut out 70-year-old William's Bryan's liver instead of his spleen.
Bryan and his wife were visiting Florida from Alabama when he began to experience pain on his left side. He underwent emergency surgery, purportedly at Shaknovsky's recommendation, according to his widow's attorney.
During the procedure, Bryan began hemorrhaging and went into cardiac arrest, sending the operating room at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hospital in Miramar, Florida, into a frenzy.
"That's the f------ liver," a female surgical staff member screamed when Shaknovsky removed the wrong organ, one nurse recalled, according to a 47-page report from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, WEAR-TV reported.
A medical examiner found that "essentially, the liver was autopsied out of that man," the report stated.
Although Shaknovksy alleged he was unaware of his fatal mistake, staff claimed they were ordered to mislabel the liver as a "spleen" and that the doctor repeatedly stated a "splenic artery aneurysm" ruptured, causing the patient's death.
"The staff in the room felt that Dr. Shaknovsky was attempting to convince them that this is what occurred, even though they witnessed something different," a previous report from the Florida Department of Health read, according to The Destin Log.
But even before surgery began, "We had this eerie feeling," a registered nurse admitted to investigators, according to WEAR.
A scrub tech echoed the skepticism over Shaknovsky's abilities.
"I don't trust him as a doctor," they said.
Shaknosky's medical license was revoked last month, but investigations into at least three surgical errors allegedly committed by him remain ongoing.
Bryan's widow is pursuing legal charges in his case.
