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November 12, 2021 46 mins
In 1997, a 26 year old woman named Sarah Smith went in for a routine breast augmentation procedure. It should have been an easy, outpatient surgery for this healthy young woman, but it didn't turn out that way. Sarah went into cardiac and respiratory arrest on the operating table, slipped into a coma, and died a few days later. Investigators soon discovered that Sarah wasn't the first of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Anthony Pignataro's patients to die after routine surgery. And the more they investigated this flashy, Lamborghini-driving, safari-hunting doctor, the more skeletons they found in his closet--from a long list of butchered patients to an audacious fraud. Pignataro would face justice for Sarah Smith's death, but that wouldn't be the end of his story. There was an even darker chapter still to be written, this time much closer to home. Join us for a twisting tale reminiscent of "Dr. Death," a stark example of what happens when narcissism and recklessness meet greed.

Sources:
Ann Rule, Last Dance Last Chance
Buffalo News: https://subscribe.buffalonews.com/e/limit-reached-bn?returnURL=https://buffalonews.com/news/pignataro-a-profile-in-deceit-how-the-failed-west-seneca-surgeons-disastrous-professional-life-brought/article_3ec7b800-b1d0-5287-a981-c9790c18380f.html
WSVN News: https://wsvn.com/news/investigations/disgraced-doctor-who-poisoned-wife-spotted-on-elder-care-website/
Oxygen: https://www.oxygen.com/license-to-kill/crime-news/anthony-pignataro-surgeon-resurfacess-florida-new-name
Forensic Files Now: https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/tag/anthony-pignataro/
Oxygen's "License to Kill," episode "Killer Surgeon"
"Forensic Files," Episode "Bad Medicine"

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