Death On The Operating Table: Surgeon Charged After Removing the Wrong Organ

0:00This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human If audiobooks are your thing or you've been meaning to listen to more of them, you should check out a podcast called Ear Say, the Audible and iHeart audiobook club hosted by CalPan. Each episode's spotlights stand out audiobooks on Audible across all kinds of genres. Sci-fi, comedy, romance, thrillers, and more. With Kyle talking to guests who help break down what makes each story worth listening to. It's a fun, easy way to discover your next great audiobook. Check out Ear Say on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. GaiGo presents a 30-second podcast between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's called Betrayed by Bill. It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in betrayal or more like what? My insurance bill. With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to GaiGo, saving about $900 in the process and never to be betrayed again.

1:01Now that was bloody riveting. It feels good when the story ends with savings. It feels good to GaiGo. Support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stock, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt, from renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers, growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S&P 500. Then, you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast, and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing, brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA and SIPC, advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool.

2:01Output is for informational purposes only, and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture, east of St. Matt Rodgers in Bowen Yang. We all know the feeling when life gets really busy, taking care of yourself can feel impossible. That's why Premier Protein Shakes are my go-to. They have 30 grams of protein, 160 calories, no added sugar, and they taste amazing. So they're a healthy choice you'll actually want to make. It's not just for fitness, it's for getting after life. Premier Protein powers me to say yes to more. Find your favorite flavor at premierprotein.com. That's P-R-E-M-I-E-R, protein.com. Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, April 16th, and a surgeon has been charged with manslaughter because his patient died on the operating table. The patient died after the doctor removed the wrong organ.

3:03Hey, well, that welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Yes, this doctor is facing manslaughter charges at this point. Let me give you an update on the story. There's been making some headlines. Again, welcome to Amy and TJ. Robes is sitting this one out. She'll be back with us here in a little bit, but wanted to give you this update because it is a significant one. And it's something that a lot of people will kind of relate to. We all at some point had a surgery. We always get nervous when you have surgery, but you don't think something like this is going to happen. A doctor can't identify the right organ. Well, to get you caught up, it's been making some headlines this week because the doctor was finally officially charged. I say, finally, because the incident happened last year, last summer, in particular, this happened in Florida, where a doctor by the name of Thomas Schakowski was operating on a patient by the name of Bill Bryan. Seventy years old, Bill Bryan was actually from Alabama. Bill Bryan was in Florida in the destination area for vacation with his wife.

4:04And while they were there, he started complaining of some severe stomach pain. So he started going into the doctor to get some help. The doctor kept recommending that, yes, you need to go into surgery. We need to remove your spleen. Well, Bill Bryan is from Alabama. He doesn't know this doctor. He doesn't know these people. So he wants to go back to Alabama when the trip is over. Get the surgery done there. The doctor, according to Bill Bryan's wife, and according to a lawsuit that has been filed, we'll get into that. Bill Bryan insisted on going home, but the doctor, Thomas Schakowski, pressured them repeatedly. Stayed on them. You have to get it done here. It's going to be dangerous if you go back. So after days of this back and forth, Bill Bryan eventually agrees to do this surgery. Goes in for surgery. He does not come out of surgery, died on the operating table from what they say was catastrophic blood loss. This happened at a hospital. Ascension, secret heart is the name of it. So the doctor, Thomas Schakowski,

5:04this has been going on. This investigation since last summer, when the operation took place and when Bill Bryan died, they have now finally got to the point that this week they were ready to charge him with second degree manslaughter. He's also facing a lawsuit by the widow of Bill Bryan, and they allege some pretty unbelievable stuff. Frankly, from a doctor, from the nurses, from the hospital, and they are alleging a cover-up. So the incident, let's go in particular. So they go and they say for this surgery that Mr. Bryan needs to have his spleen removed. Now, after the surgery, so what happens in the surgery is that the doctor, the nurses, they all kind of describe a chaotic scene, in which Bill Bryan actually goes into cardiac arrest at one point during the surgery, and the doctor continues, the surgeon continues, on with what he's doing, which is trying to remove a spleen. So you can only imagine the scene, the chaos that is now described.

6:06Blood, apparently, is going everywhere. And at some point, the nurses, according to reports, according to the lawsuit, were trying to tell him, you didn't remove the spleen. You remove the wrong thing. He ended up removing the liver. Spleen liver. Man comes in to have a spleen removed, a liver gets taken out, and it leads, according to authorities, to this man's death. Now, still after, according to authorities, after the surgery, after Bill Bryan died, after the liver was removed, again, the wrong organ, the doctor, Dr. Shikofsky, reportedly still insisted, still insisted that he had done the right thing, that he had done the right surgery, that he had removed the right organ. It wasn't until the pathologist was brought in, started checking out and doing some tests on the tissue that was removed, and said, now, this is this is liver tissue. And that's when the medical examiner got involved, was brought in, took a look at the body,

7:07Bill Bryan's body, and said, oh, yeah. The spleen is right there, still intact, still where it's supposed to be. You didn't remove it, and that's when they officially realized that this had been removed, that the liver, instead of the spleen had been removed. Obviously, nobody was trying to figure out what is going on, how could something like this happen? But the widow of Bill Bryan did file a lawsuit, and it's in this lawsuit that we're getting more information about the allegations. And in particular, a cover-up. Not only was a mistake made, according to the lawsuit filed by Bill Bryan's widow, the hospital, nurses, the doctors were all complicit, and all involved in trying to cover up what has happened. So the widow has sued everybody. Yes, Dr. Shikofsky, of course, but also nurses involved in suing the hospital. They said they went as far in the cover-up, and it wasn't just about the stories they were telling to the family members or other people at the hospital.

8:11They said they actually falsified records, in an attempt to cover up what had taken place, and told the wife afterwards, according to her, told her that the spleen was actually four times larger than it should have been, and that it actually moved to a different side of his body. They were trying to find a way, according to Bill Bryan's widow and her attorney, they were trying to find a way to explain a way what had happened. So it was four times larger and it moved to another side of his body. I said, that was just a part of the setup and the cover-up, and trying to tell a different story and try, frankly, to not get sued. But here's a thing. This doctor had been sued before. This was not the first, was it even the second time that Dr. Thomas Shakowski has run into trouble, and including legal trouble, and also trouble having to do with patients, having wrong things removed,

9:15and also having to do with patients dying on his operating table. I know as wild as the story sounds, how could this happen that the wrong organ could be removed? Well, it seems like something that would be so incredibly rare, but it's not the first time this doctor has made a mistake like this. Stay here. We will explain why some say this doctor should have been nowhere near a hospital. If you're always on the lookout for a great audiobook, or just one help figuring out what to listen to next, there's a podcast you should know about. It's called Earsay, the Audible and I Heart audiobook club hosted by CalPen. Each episode takes a closer look at some of the most talked about new audiobooks on Audible, spanning a wide range of genres from sci-fi and literary fiction to rom-coms, thrillers, and comedy. Cal is joined by guests who dig into what these stories are about,

10:18what makes them stand out as audiobooks, and why they're connecting with listeners right now. If you're looking for your next listen, this is a great place to start. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and I Heart audiobook club on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. GoiGo presents a 30-second podcast between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's called Betrayed by Bill. It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in betrayal, or more like what? My insurance bill. With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to Geico, saving about $900 in the process and never to be betrayed again. Now that was bloody riveting. It feels good when the story ends with savings. It feels good to Geico. Support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stock spots options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI.

11:19It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow, to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable, and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast, and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast, paid for by public investing, brokerage services by open to the public investing ink, member Finra and SIPC, advisory services by public advisors LLC, SEC registered advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only, and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture. It's the Matt Rodgers in Bowen Yang. We all know the feeling when life gets really busy, taking care of yourself can feel impossible. That's why premier protein shakes are my go-to. They have 30 grams of protein,

12:20160 calories, no added sugar, and they taste amazing. So there are a healthy choice you'll actually want to make. It's not just for fitness, it's for getting after life. The 30 grams of protein gives you the fuel you need. It's not just for intense gym sessions, it's just for life. With the wide variety of flavors from cafe latte to cake batter, it never feels boring. It's a flavor for everyone. I personally love the peaches and cream, but maybe you're a root beer floater, cinnamon roll kind of person. Premier protein powers me to say yes to more. Find your favorite flavor at premierprotein.com. That's P-R-E-M-I-E-R protein.com, or at Amazon Walmart and other major retailers. We continue here on an amulet, Amy and TJ, following up on the doctor that was arrested this week, the surgeon, arrested being charged with manslaughter after his patient died during what was supposed to be a laparoscopic

13:24splenectomy. That is removing the spleen. What ended up being removed was the liver. Catastrophic, as they put it, catastrophic blood loss resulted and the patient by the name of Bill Bryan, 70-year-old man from Alabama, did die. He's not the only patient who was in Dr. Shikofsky's care that died another patient in 2023. So we go back. It was two years before this most recent incident. In another incident, in another surgery, a procedure was done, in which they say the doctor was accused of removing part of the patient's intestine. He wasn't supposed to do this. A whole developed this patient eventually ended up in ICU and this patient eventually died. Yes, another patient of this particular doctor died on the operating table based on what they say

14:24was another issue of this doctor doing something wrong. But that's not it in the same year, 2023. When he had a patient die in that same year, he had another issue months prior and get this. That issue in that operating room was another wrong site surgery. That's what they call it. What that means is he was supposed to be operating on one thing and he was operating on something else. This had to do with the pancreas. That patient did not die, but that patient did sue and they settled that case. So a lot of folks are telling you, how is this guy able to make these mistakes, bounce around from hospitals, even different states at times and continue to work? Well, we don't know. And that's why a lawsuit has been filed and you can only imagine what they are going after. You can only imagine what the defense is going to be when you talk about a hospital and a wrongful death.

15:25But that lawsuit is going through the process now. So you have a civil arm of this case and you now have a criminal arm to this case. It should let you know. His license has been now suspended. Hasn't been taken away. A lot of people tell you it should have been taken away a long time ago. But he is not practicing anymore. But Bill Bryan is dead at the age of 70 because he didn't. Because his surgeon didn't know the difference between the spleen and the liver, I'm not going to suggest that I would understand the anatomy. If it's not the childhood game operation, I don't have a good handle on what the human body and what parts are where and all of this. But the dudes are surgeon. So it seems like almost, it seems almost impossible that you could remove the wrong thing, that you could remove a different organ. But the widow is looking for those answers right now.

16:26Police are looking for those answers. And they might also be looking at more of this doctor's background. And yes, whatever punishment may or may not come his way. There are plenty who will tell you there is punishment that needs to come to somebody who allowed this guy to keep working in their hospitals and in particular in their operating rooms. Just wanted to give you this update. So on a story that's been making a hell of a lot of headlines and a lot of people trying to explain how this happened and why this happened. Yeah, the how was incredible. How is it possible that a surgeon, somebody with a medical degree, could go into somebody's body and take the wrong thing out. Always appreciate you spending some time here with us. Remember top right corner of your Apple podcast. Tap or you see our show page. A little button that says follow. Click that. You can subscribe. Make sure you always get our updates. And as we say, these days, there are plenty. Always appreciate you spending some time with us. Though I'm TJ Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robot. Talk soon. If audiobooks are your thing,

17:31or you've been meaning to listen to more of them, you should check out a podcast called Earsay. The Audible and I Heart audiobook club hosted by CalPan. Each episode's spotlights stand out audiobooks on Audible across all kinds of genres. Sci-fi, comedy, romance, thrillers, and more. With Kyle talking to guests to help break down what makes each story worth listening to. It's a fun, easy way to discover your next great audiobook. Check out Earsay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Geico presents a 30-second podcast between your podcast. Today's story is shared by one of our listeners. It's called Betrayed by Bill. It was in that moment I caught who was staring back at me in Betrayal or more like what? My insurance bill. With trembling hands, I grabbed my phone and switched to Geico. Saving about $900 in the process and never to be betrayed again. Now that was bloody riveting. It feels good when the story ends with savings. It feels good to Geico.

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19:33So they're a healthy choice you'll actually want to make. It's not just for fitness. It's for getting after life. The 30 grams of protein gives you the fuel you need. It's not just for intense gym sessions. It's just for life. With a wide variety of flavors. From capillata to cake batter, it never feels boring. It's a flavor for everyone. I personally love the peaches and cream, but maybe you're a root beer float or cinnamon roll kind of person. Premiere Protein powers me to say yes to more. Find your favorite flavor at premierprotein.com. That's P-R-E-M-I-E-R protein.com or at Amazon, Walmart, and other major retailers. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.