'License to Kill' Season 2: Meet NY 'killer doctor' whose botched surgeries killed a patient, injured others
The general belief is that doctors are here to cure us of our ailments, and it is very common for us to put our trust in them blindly. But what if these doctors turn out to be your worst nightmare, or worse, low-profile serial killers? Despite taking the oath to not cause harm, there are many horrific doctors and medical professionals who have killed their patients. Oxygen is back with a brand new season of its true-crime docuseries, 'License to Kill', which delves into some of the most shocking crimes committed by people who call themselves physicians. It is hosted by the world-renowned plastic surgeon and certified expert for the California Medical Board, Dr Terry Dubrow (Botched).
The season premiere drew focus to the 'killer doctor', Dr Anthony Pignataro who, under the guise of a plastic surgeon, caused the death of his patients and injured several others nearly fatally. The episode also recounts the stories of Teri LaMarti, Sarah Smith and Sophia Butryn who were unfortunate victims of the doctor's incompetency at cosmetic surgery.
Dr Pignataro received his medical training as an ENT specialist in Puerto Rico and became a licensed doctor in New York State in 1986. He is the son of a respected West Seneca surgeon, Ralph F Pignataro, and gained national recognition in the 90s for his hair-replacement techniques. Despite not being trained in cosmetic surgery, he opened a clinic in Upstate New York as a plastic surgeon specializing in liposuction, breast enhancement surgeries, facelifts, implants and more. In 1997, he was accused of providing substandard care in at least eight cosmetic surgery cases after it was reviewed by the State Health Department, local plastic surgeons and medical malpractice attorneys.
Teri LaMarti, then 40 and a mother of four, had always been concerned about the extra fat in her tummy area and longed to get a liposuction. On her wedding anniversary in 1996, her husband surprised her with an appointment with a plastic surgeon, but little did she know it was going to change her life forever. When she consulted Dr Pignataro, he came off a very charismatic doctor who put her at ease. On the day of her surgery, however, LaMarti realized what a huge mistake it had been to come to him. She was given a handful of pills prior to surgery and taken down to the "operation theatre" which was more like a basement, devoid of a sterilized environment or tools. The next thing she knew, she was waking up after the surgery in grave pain, as the anesthesia began to wear off.
Her "tummy tuck" went drastically wrong in the hours following the surgery. When she went home after the surgery, she was still bleeding profusely and it wouldn't stop. That night, she was still in excruciating pain and violently sick with excessive vomiting. Her worried husband called the family physician, Dr Dippert, and La Marti was taken to Mercy Hospital. On seeing her gaping cut with 18 to 22 staples, Dr Dippert was stunned and rendered speechless. He immediately photographed her wound and reported the incident to the State Department.
Six weeks after LaMarti's ordeal, a young woman undergoing a breast augmentation surgery became Dr Pignataro's next victim. In the midst of her surgery, 26-year-old mother of two, Sarah Smith went into a state of cardiac arrest and 911 was immediately contacted. It was the fire department that answered the call, and when they arrived at the scene, Dr Pignataro had been attempting to create an airway for Smith using a coat hanger. The paramedics immediately administered CPR and got her heart beating again, but by the time they got the hospital, she had lapsed into a coma. She died in the hospital, a week later. Her death was ruled as "asphyxia due to inadequate ventilation under anesthesia".
In another case, Sophie Butryn, 78, had a similar experience as that of LaMarti. She suffered serious complications from a "tummy tuck" that Dr Pignataro performed on her, that her son contends would have resulted in her death if she hadn't been rushed to the hospital. Instead of going home after her surgery, that same day she was taken to Our Lady of Victory Hospital where she remained for six weeks.
Months after Smith's passing, Dr Pignataro was charged with her death and was sentenced to two years in prison. His medical license was revoked and he was asked to pay $5,000 in fine. He became the first Western New York doctor to be convicted of homicide and jailed for a patient's death. After his release, he tried to poison his wife, Debbie, with arsenic. He pleaded guilty to the poisoning and spent the next 15 years imprisoned. Less than a year after he was released again in 2013, ABC-affiliated station, WKBW investigated into public records that showed Dr Pignataro had legally changed his name to Anthony Haute and filed papers to start a business called "Tony Haute Cosmetique LLC".
In addition, they also found Dr Tony Haute's website in which he refers to himself as a doctor and MD, despite having had his medical license stripped and ordered to never practice medicine again. The website also says that he is a "retired physician", and not the fraudulent doctor who faced 30 counts of gross negligence, incompetence and moral unfitness.
