Bits and Bites from Around the World > Florida surgeon removes liver instead of spleen, man dies; 14 y/o school shooter's father charged with murder; Man turns home into USS Enterprise

 

Man, 70, dies after Florida surgeon removed liver

instead of spleen: lawyer

A 70-year-old man from Alabama died on the operating table after a surgeon mistakenly removed his liver instead of his spleen, according to the family’s lawyer, who says there’s evidence that this is not the first time the doctor has removed the wrong organ during surgery.

“Every once in a while we get a case where the facts are so egregious and dangerous to the local public that we feel like we should stop what we’re doing and put out a public service announcement,” lawyer Joe Zarzaur said. “This is one of those situations.”

Zarzaur is representing the family of William Bryan, a resident of Muscle Shoals, Ala., who died in a Florida hospital after he was allegedly convinced by Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky to get his spleen removed, only for the surgeon to take out the wrong organ.

Bryan and his wife Beverly were visiting their rental property on Florida’s northern coast when he suddenly began experiencing abdominal pain on the left side, Zarzaur’s law firm wrote in a press release. Bryan was admitted to Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach and was advised to go under the knife for a laparoscopic splenectomy procedure.

The family was “reluctant” to go forward with the surgery in Florida, but they were eventually persuaded by Shaknovsky, a general surgeon, and Dr. Christopher Bacani, the chief medical officer of the hospital. The two doctors convinced the family that Bryan “could experience serious complications if he left the hospital,” the law firm writes.

During the operation on Aug. 21, Shaknovsky removed Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen, according to a surgical pathology report obtained by the family’s lawyer and shared with media outlets. When an autopsy was conducted on Bryan’s body, his spleen was still in his abdomen and his liver was gone.

When Bryan’s liver was removed, the major blood vessels supplying the critically important organ were severed. The 70-year-old bled out on the operating table and died.

After the surgery, Shaknovsky told Bryan’s widow that her husband’s “spleen” was so diseased that it was “four times bigger than usual and had migrated to the other side” of his body, Zarzaur’s law firm writes.

The liver is usually much larger than the spleen and is located in the upper-right portion of the abdominal cavity, while the spleen is in the upper left.

A pathologist at the hospital later realized that the removed organ labelled “spleen” was actually a liver. Dr. Robert Blanchard wrote in his surgical pathology report that the liver was “grossly identifiable” and partly torn, according to the Miami Herald.

During Bryan’s autopsy, after the error was discovered, a medical examiner found a small cyst on the surface of his spleen.

“The spleen had a small cyst on it that had some hemorrhage around it, but it was not a fatal issue,” Zarzaur told USA Today. “It was a fairly routine-looking cyst. It probably would have been very treatable.”

Was there drugs or alcohol involved in this story? Have you ever heard of a spleen moving across an abdomin? This is hardly believable!

There is more on this horror story on Global News at:

Zarzaur says he has also found evidence

Father of Georgia school shooting suspect arrested,

charged with murder

By Sarah Do Couto  Global News

Posted September 6, 2024 9:48 am

 Updated September 6, 2024 5:34 pm

 4 min read

The father of the 14-year-old suspect accused of killing four people on Wednesday during a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., has been arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

State authorities announced the charges against Colin Gray, 54, on Thursday. He was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Officials said on Thursday the charges were laid because the father “knowingly” allowed his son, 14-year-old Colt Gray, to possess the military-style rifle used in the shooting.

“His charges are directly connected to the actions of his son,” said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, during Thursday’s evening news conference.

2:14

Father of Georgia school shooting suspect handed murder charges

If convicted on all counts, Colin could face a maximum prison sentence of 180 years.

View image in full screen

Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. The father has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, and cruelty to children. Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images

The charges against Colin are the most severe ever imposed on the parent of a suspected school shooter in the U.S.

Colt was arrested after authorities said he used an AR-15-style rifle to open fire inside Apalachee High School, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. He has been accused of killing two students and two teachers, as well as injuring nine others.

The teen has been charged with four felony counts of murder and will be tried as an adult. A potential motive is not clear.

Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said the suspect will face additional charges in the coming days.

Prior to Wednesday’s shooting, Colt was already on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s radar.

Investigators said that in 2023, they traced online threats about executing a school shooting to Colt, who denied the allegations. The posts, which authorities said were made to the platform Discord, contained photos of guns.

There is more on this story on Global News at:

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office

‘I even have a lounge’: Star Trek superfan turns Halifax house into a ship

From James T. Kirk all the way to Philippa Georgiou, there have been more than a dozen captains of Star Trek ships but none is likely more attached to their vessel than Capt. Jay Roach.

The Halifax native has created his own Star Trek ship in his home and dubbed it the Star Trek Acadia.

Actually, USS Acadia.

With Star Trek Day approaching on Sunday, he appeared on Global News Morning Halifax to give Paul Brothers a tour of the Acadia.

“It pretty much will do anything you can do on the show,” Roach said. “And if it doesn’t, give me five minutes and I can make it do it.”

In his basement, Roach has what he calls his “engine room,” where he displays his collection as well as has a few TVs.

Danish Climate Body Wrongly Reported Greenland Heat Record

The DMI last week reported a record temperature of up to 4.7C

at the Summit station on Greenland

But a quality check confirms no record was set

Photo: Christian Brøndum/Scanpix

The Local news@thelocal.dk

Denmark's national climate body has admitted it wrongly reported record warm temperatures on the centre of the Greenland ice sheet last week, in what it called "good news from a climate perspective".

The Danish Meteorological Institute, which has a key role in monitoring Greenland's climate, last week reported a shocking August temperature of between 2.7C and 4.7C at the Summit weather station, which is located 3,202m above sea level at the the centre of the Greenland ice sheet, generating a spate of global headlines. 

But on Wednesday it posted a tweet saying that a closer look had shown that monitoring equipment had been giving erroneous results. 

"Was there record-level warmth on the inland ice on Friday?" it said. "No! A quality check has confirmed our suspicion that the measurement was too high." 

By combining measurements with observations from other weather stations, the DMI has now estimated that the temperature was closer to -2C. 

"You could say that this is good news from a climate perspective," Herdis Damberg, one of the Institute's meteorologists told Danish state broadcaster DR. "There are probably a lot of people wiping their foreheads saying that it's pretty good that it wasn't four degrees." 

The institute believes that snow had caused poor ventilation around the thermometers at the site, wrongly boosting the temperature. 

The record temperature ever recorded at Summit is 2.2C, which was reached in both 2012 and 2017. But -2C is still unusual at the station. 

"It's not a record, but -2C is still warm," Damberg said. "It was the heat that lay around Europe that moved up to Iceland and on to Greenland." 

Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the institute, told The Local that the revised temperature figure did not affect the institute's estimate that the ice cap lost a record 12.5bn tons of ice in just 24 hours last week, which triggered headlines across the world. 

"This does not alter our ice melt figures at all," she said in an email to The Local, pointing out that while the temperature measurement was taken at about 2m above the ice, her group was "largely interested in the surface temperature". 

The ice melt estimates also did not use the temperature measurements at all, she explained, but was instead based on a "surface energy balance model" which takes into account "all of the sources of incoming and outgoing energy". 

Summit Stn, Greenland

GOD “ABSOLUTELY” APPROVES OF HOMOSEXUALS - JOEL OSTEEN

The gospel according to Joel Osteen

One of America’s most well-known evangelical pastors, Joel Osteen, recently declared that God “absolutely” approves of everyone, including homosexuals.

The Houston megapastor and best-selling author has been touring to all the talk shows lately to promote his new book, “Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life.”

Osteen, who has been the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston since 1999, recently talked to the Huffington Post about several subjects, including his thoughts on homosexuality.

HuffPo Live host Josh Zepps quoted from Osteen’s new book: “It doesn’t matter who likes you or who doesn’t like you, all that matters is God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.”

Zepps went on to ask Osteen if that included homosexuals.

“Absolutely,” Osteen insisted.

“I believe that God has breathed his life into every single person. We’re all on a journey. Nobody’s perfect,” stated the pastor who oversees a congregation of 45,000 followers, including the likes of Cher and Oprah Winfrey. “The Bible said a sin is pride, a sin is selfish ambition. We tend to pick out these certain things,” he add.

Someone should send this guy a Bible! It's obvious that he has either never read it, or simply doesn't believe anything it says. He has to stop calling himself an evangelical, because evangelicals actually believe the Bible.

Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven. There was a reason for that. To listen to Osteen, you would think everyone is going to Heaven by default. Astonishing! What an unbelievable insult to the tens of millions of Martyrs who suffered horribly and died for the faith. In the gospel according to Osteen, they were idiots; they would have gone to Heaven anyway. 

Why do people listen to him?

N.Y. Church Descended into Fear Before Teen's Fatal Beating

Many current members fear talking publicly about ultraconservative Word of Life Christian Church

The Associated Press 

A teenager was beaten to death and his brother sent to hospital with severe
injuries following a 'counselling' session at the Word of Life church
in New Hartford, N.Y. (AP file photo)

Former members of the upstate New York church where two teens were viciously beaten, one fatally, paint a picture of a once vibrant and joyous house of worship that had declined into a place of fear and intimidation under new leadership.

"When I first arrived, it was warm and welcoming. It was encouraging. It was helpful," said Chadwick Handville, a massage therapist in Phoenix, Ariz., who left the Word of Life Christian Church in June 2000 after 10 years that included a stint as a worship leader and trustee.

Things went downhill after founder Jerry Irwin returned from some time away and reclaimed his position as pastor, Handville said.

"What was off the wall was his attitude toward others," Handville recalled. "It wasn't happy. He accused every male of lusting after his wife."

Personal attacks

Handville said Irwin's preaching was filled with personal attacks on parishioners, whom he forced to work long hours renovating the Irwin family's apartment on the third floor of the former school building that houses the church in New Hartford.

"He did have good points," Handville said. "Through him I was able to memorize half the Bible. He taught me a lot. What he failed to teach me was how to use what I read — how to treat people."

Church Killing

Bruce Leonard has been charged with first-degree manslaughter in the beating death of his son, Lucas, 19. (New Hartford Police Department/AP)

Deborah Leonard is also facing a first-degree manslaughter charge in the beating death of her son, Lucas. (New Hartford Police Department /AP)

Handville said many current and former church members are afraid to talk publicly about the church for fear of recriminations.

In a letter to the Post-Standard of Syracuse, former congregant Nathan Ames said the church started out as a fast-growing Pentecostal church, but declined after Irwin reclaimed leadership. Ames described Irwin as controlling and intimidating.

Since Irwin's fatal stroke several years ago, his wife, Traci, and their children — Tiffanie, Daniel and Joseph — have been in charge. Ames said they continued in the style of the founder.

Six church leaders and parishioners now face charges including manslaughter and assault for a brutal beating in the sanctuary last Sunday that left Lucas Leonard, 19, dead and his brother Christopher, 17, in hospital.

Church members Bruce and Deborah Leonard, parents of the victims, face the most serious charge of manslaughter. Deborah Leonard's daughter, Sarah Ferguson, and Joseph Irwin, both face assault charges.

Police say the beatings arose out of a "counseling session" that may have been related to Lucas Leonard wanting to leave the church.

The New York Times reported Daniel Irwin told investigators that his sister Tiffanie, the pastor at Word of Life, told the church congregation that some members were practising witchcraft. The paper reported that Irwin said Lucas Leonard was one of them and that he was going to make a voodoo doll of a church leader.

New Hartford police said there is "no evidence that we are aware of that supports that Lucas Leonard was engaged in any such activity."

The roughly 30-year-old church has declined to about 20 members from 40, police Chief Michael Inserra said. Remaining members are devoted to their pastor and often "wait to be told what to do," Inserra said.

Unreasonable devotion to the pastor has been the ruin of many a church. Parishioners, particularly Board members or Trustees have to be able to hold the pastor's feet to the fire when he or she does not behave in a Christ-like manner. They have to be able to remove that pastor if he continues in said manner. Failing to do so leads to tyranny and serious error endangering the whole congregation both physically and spiritually.

If there is anyone left in the church after charges have been laid, they either need to disband the church or get rid of the Irwins, all of them.

Traci and Tiffanie Irwin haven't been charged and haven't commented.

David Bromley, professor of religious studies and director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project at Virginia Commonwealth University, said there are thousands of similar small, independent Christian churches around the country. They're typically very conservative, following a very strict fundamentalist theology with a literal interpretation of the Bible.

"Every now and then, one pops up that has gone awry," Bromley said. "That's statistically not shocking because there are so many of them."

Thanks for confirming that the vast majority of these churches are not a threat to themselves, and may well be of benefit to their community and beyond.

'Charismatic leaders'

The trend toward independent, conservative churches coincides with a decline in membership in mainline Christian churches. "A lot are forming in reaction to the liberalization of mainline churches," Bromley said.

The churches generally start with a pastor, sometimes branching out from an existing congregation, who starts out with a group meeting in a home or rented storefront. Many disband after a few years, but some flourish. As with any organization, leadership may take a bad turn, Bromley said.

"There are certainly cases of charismatic leaders who abuse their power," Bromley said.

The theology of a congregation may lead to strong resistance to a member's wish to leave the group. Nevertheless, Jesus never restrained any of His disciples from leaving, and many did. He even encouraged some who were not committed to Himself. The idea that you can keep someone in the congregation against their will is simply absurd.

"If you get into a very conservative group where there is only one way and God's wrath is about to be unleashed on humanity and we're the faithful remnant, then leaving the group is a very serious condition from the point of view of members," Bromley said. "Essentially, if you leave you're walking into Satan's dominion and your soul is lost."

There are cases where groups use physical restraint to prevent a person from leaving, he said.

"These cases look very bizarre to outsiders," Bromley said. "To scholars, they look like rare, radical events that occur in groups that are tightly organized and very conservative."

Prosperity Gospel: Deceitful and Deadly

“If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I wouldn’t want in.”

John Piper

John Piper – The Gospel Coalition

When I read about prosperity preaching churches, my response is: “If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I wouldn’t want in.” In other words, if this is the message of Jesus, no thank you.

Luring people to Christ to get rich is both deceitful and deadly. It’s deceitful because when Jesus himself called us, he said things like: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). And it’s deadly because the desire to be rich plunges “people into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). So here is my plea to preachers of the gospel.


1. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes it harder for people to get into heaven.

Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” His disciples were astonished, as many in the “prosperity” movement should be. So Jesus went on to raise their astonishment even higher by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” They respond in disbelief: “Then who can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23–27).

My question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry focus that makes it harder for people to enter heaven?


2. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that kindles suicidal desires in people.

Paul said, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” But then he warned against the desire to be rich. And by implication, he warned against preachers who stir up the desire to be rich instead of helping people get rid of it. He warned, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:6–10).

So my question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry that encourages people to pierce themselves with many pangs and plunge themselves into ruin and destruction?


3. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that encourages vulnerability to moth and rust.

Jesus warns against the effort to lay up treasures on earth. That is, he tells us to be givers, not keepers. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19).

Yes, we all keep something. But given the built-in tendency toward greed in all of us, why would we take the focus off Jesus and turn it upside down?


4. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes hard work a means of amassing wealth.

Paul said we should not steal. The alternative was hard work with our own hands. But the main purpose was not merely to hoard or even to have. The purpose was “to have to give.” “Let him labor, working with his hands, that he may have to give to him who is in need” (Eph. 4:28). This is not a justification for being rich in order to give more. It is a call to make more and keep less so you can give more. There is no reason why a person who makes $200,000 should live any differently from the way a person who makes $80,000 lives. Find a wartime lifestyle; cap your expenditures; then give the rest away.

Why would you want to encourage people to think that they should possess wealth in order to be a lavish giver? Why not encourage them to keep their lives more simple and be an even more lavish giver? Would that not add to their generosity a strong testimony that Christ, and not possessions, is their treasure?


5. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that promotes less faith in the promises of God to be for us what money can’t be.

The reason the writer to the Hebrews tells us to be content with what we have is that the opposite implies less faith in the promises of God. He says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5–6).

If the Bible tells us that being content with what we have honors the promise of God never to forsake us, why would we want to teach people to want to be rich?


6. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that contributes to your people being choked to death.

Jesus warns that the word of God, which is meant to give us life, can be choked off from any effectiveness by riches. He says it is like a seed that grows up among thorns that choke it to death: “They are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the . . . riches . . . of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

Why would we want to encourage people to pursue the very thing that Jesus warns will choke us to death?


7. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that takes the seasoning out of the salt and puts the light under a basket.

What is it about Christians that makes them the salt of the earth and the light of the world? It is not wealth. The desire for wealth and the pursuit of wealth tastes and looks just like the world. It does not offer the world anything different from what it already believes in. The great tragedy of prosperity preaching is that a person does not have to be spiritually awakened in order to embrace it; one needs only to be greedy. Getting rich in the name of Jesus is not the salt of the earth or the light of the world. In this, the world simply sees a reflection of itself. And if it works, they will buy it.

The context of Jesus’s saying shows us what the salt and light are. They are the joyful willingness to suffering for Christ. Here is what Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:11–14).

What will make the world taste (the salt) and see (the light) of Christ in us is not that we love wealth the same way they do. Rather, it will be the willingness and the ability of Christians to love others through suffering, all the while rejoicing because their reward is in heaven with Jesus. This is inexplicable on human terms. This is supernatural. But to attract people with promises of prosperity is simply natural. It is not the message of Jesus. It is not what he died to achieve.

The Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition International Outreach (IO) is partnering with African authors and publishers to create a resource that biblically examines the prosperity gospel and that will be distributed free across Africa and beyond. In Prosperity? Finding the True Gospel, African pastors Michael Otieno Maura, Ken Mbugua, and Conrad Mbewe are joined by John Piper and Wayne Grudem in pointing pastors and other Christians beyond the deceptions of prosperity theology to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. TGC-IO aims to raise $50,000 by July 1, at which time they will receive an all-or-nothing matching grant to complete the project. For more details or to give to this worthy project, see the relief project page.

Obviously, it is too late for us to meet the deadline of July 1st. I include this section for your information, in case you want to follow the progress of this group.

This article is part of a series on the prosperity gospel. I encourage you to read the previous articles as well:

“Prosperity Gospel Born in the USA” (Russell Woodbridge)
“5 Errors of the Prosperity Gospel” (David W. Jones)
“I Visited a Prosperity Gospel Megachurch” (Steven Morales)
“Africa Infested by Health and Wealth Teaching” (Jeff Robinson)
“Jabez and the Soft Prosperity Gospel” (David Schrock)
“Encountering Prosperity Theology in Latin America” (Jairo Namnun)
“Prosperity Teaching Has Replaced True Gospel in Africa” (Conrad Mbewe)

The Romantic Christian

Are you a romantic Christian? No, I’m not asking if you buy your wife flowers, or make your husband intimate suppers. I’m asking if you have romanticized Christ.

To romanticize means to deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion. It’s hard to romanticize Jesus; He’s our creator, He is, was, and always will be perfect. But somehow many of us have come to distort the church that Jesus started, and to make it into something so user-friendly, so soft and furry, so undemanding, that it is nothing like the faith the He initiated.

So, what does a romantic Christian believe? For one, a romantic Christian may believe that when times get tough, Christians get outa here. I had a pastor one time who liked to shout from the pulpit, "Jesus might come at any moment, maybe before this service is through, and take us all away to Heaven. " That he was articulating the beliefs of many Christians and some of our largest evangelical denominations, is a tragedy that would turn the early church fathers apoplectic.

The theory of the pre-tribulation rapture will be explored more fully later, but, for now, I will say that it is probably the chief cornerstone of the romantic Christian. What could be better than to get out of here before things get really nasty?

One of the big problems with that is that most people who look closely at Christian demographics will tell you that somewhere between 3 and 10% of people who believe they are saved and going to Heaven, are genuinely saved. The remainder show little or no change in their lives; no discernable moral difference from secular people.

Consequently, 90 to 97% of “Christians” will likely be left behind if we have a pre-tribulation rapture. Not a very romantic thought, is it? Certainly not what Tim LeHaye would have you believe.