Thomas Shaknovsky botched the surgery of William Bryan, 70, who died on the operating table

Thomas Shaknovsky botched the surgery of William Bryan, 70, who died on the operating table

According to Shaknovksy’s deposition, after removing Bryan’s liver, the surgeon instructed a nurse to label the organ as a “spleen” – and he also identified it as a spleen in Bryan’s postoperative notes. Shaknovsky later said he had been “mentally compromised” at the time of Bryan’s death, explaining that he was “devastated, demoralized, crying over his passing, felt that I failed him”.

  • modus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    29·
    2 days ago

    It’s been a while since I’ve operated on anyone (consentually, at least). I know some doctors can be so arrogant that you don’t ever want to second-guess them or correct them for fear of bring berated. Aren’t there other people directly over the patient who might butt in and say “hey, are you sure that’s the right part?”

    • YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      11·
      2 days ago

      The article is kinda shit and gives no information but usually there would be multiple eyes on the patient. You have at minimum the rotating nurse (not scrubbed in,) the scrub tech (sterile and knows every step of the operation,) the anesthesiologist or CRNA (wouldn’t have a good view of the site), and a resident or PA assisting. There would have been eyes on the patient, which is what makes it so confusing. Maybe the surgeon was intimidating and nobody felt they could speak up against him?

      https://www.namd.org/journal-of-medicine/3293-surgeon-removed-liver-instead-of-spleen-family-says.html This article is better than the one in the post but doesn’t answer the big question, which is how many people had eyes on the patient?!?!? It’s difficult for me to believe that a surgeon with experience could make this kind of mistake without inebriation being a factor. The article describes the organ removed as “grossly” obviously a liver, grossly in this case meaning you can see it with your eyes and don’t need special tools. I can’t imagine making this mistake and I’m not even a surgeon I just went to med school. Absolutely insane case and I wonder how many other people this doctor harmed.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      That entire “don’t ever want to second guess them” was put upside down with airplane captains where they are.trained to communicate and not be afraid to speak up when they see a problem, lest we have a other Tenerife incident