Leonardo Cazzaniga

Leonardo Cazzaniga (born 1956), known as Doctor Death , is an Italian serial killer and former anesthesiologist who murdered between nine and fifteen patients at a hospital in Saronno between 2010 and 2014, some with the help of his lover and accomplice, Laura Taroni.

Convicted in nine of the cases he was accused of, Cazzaniga was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Taroni was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

Murders Between 2010 and the summer of 2014, a long series of suspicious deaths of elderly patients occurred at the Saronno Hospital. These deaths were brought to the attention of the authorities at the behest of physician Clelia Leto and vice-primary physician Radu Iliescu, who had recently started noticing strange and even threatening behavior from their senior colleague, Leonardo Cazzaniga. All three victims had received doses of drugs that were unsuitable for their conditions.

According to the authorities, Cazzaniga claimed that he wanted to "ease their suffering and make death less painful" by carrying out his so-called "Cazzaniga protocol" – a term he used to administering a cocktail of drugs to his patients, consisting of a mixture of opiates, benzodiazepine and sleeping pills.

Investigation and arrest Cazzaniga was arrested on 26 November 2016, and charged with a total of 15 murders. On 23 February 2018, she was convicted of killing her husband and mother, but acquitted of killing her father-in-law, resulting in a 30-year sentence.

The remaining five employees at the hospital received much more lenient sentences, with Valentini, Cosentina, Pennuto and Scoppetta each receiving 2 years and 6 months imprisonment. The only defendant to be acquitted was Giuseppe di Luca, who was initially charged with failure to report suspicious circumstances regarding the hospitalization of Angelo Lauria.

On 27 June 2023, the Second Assize Court of Milan retried Cazzaniga for the murder of Domenico Brasca, for which he was found guilty and sentenced to a second life term. His lawyers then filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation against the conviction, but it was rejected on 23 February 2024.

Currently, Cazzaniga is serving his sentence at a prison in Alessandria and claims to have ceased all contact with Taroni after she accused him of being solely responsible for the deaths of her husband and father-in-law.