It was the last time she saw her husband alive.

Now, nearly six months later, Bryan is suing the surgeon, Thomas J. SHAKNOVSKY, and the hospital where he operated on her husband, accusing them of wrongful death and medical malpractice.

In a 114-page complaint filed on Jan. 30, 2025 in Florida’s First Judicial Circuit Court in Walton County, Bryan alleges that Shaknovsky killed her husband by mistakenly removing his liver instead of his spleen, then participated in a conspiracy — that included the hospital’s CEO and chief medical officer — to cover up the fatal error by doctoring the death certificate and other state records.

Bryan, 70, is also accusing Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach, Florida, of employing the services of a doctor who, before operating on Bryan’s husband, had repeatedly made serious mistakes, including one in 2023 in which he also operated on the wrong organ. That incident, according to state records, resulted in a $400,000 settlement.