Heres this handsome Italian surgeon at the finest institution in the world, the Karolinska, and hes everything Im not: Hes got a beautiful head of hair, he drives a motorcycle, hes got an accent, hes incredibly charismatic and dynamic, Dr. Genden said. Therefore, of all the medically ill individuals Paolo has ever provided a biological or synthetic implant to, at least 8 of them allegedly died due to his misconduct in research, failure to provide proper post-operative care, and/or his disregard for ethical practices. Virginia For six years, she had endured a tube inserted in her windpipe, or trachea, to keep her alive, but her discomfort and distress were becoming more and more unbearable. Illinois Other witnesses contradicted that, arguing that with Andemariams slow-growing cancer, minor surgeries and other treatments could have kept him alive. There are people who go to jail for 5 years for not paying their taxes. Benita Alexander thought that she was living a real-life fairy tale when she met her fianc, Paolo Macchiarini. Paolo was a world-renowned surgeon who spoke six languages, mingled with the global elite, and resembled George Clooney. Any woman would swoon for such a catch! Articles in this area are retracted 2.4 times more often than the average for biomedicine, and over half of these retractions are due to fraud. Because mucus would clog her tube, she was constantly suctioning, constantly worried about her airway, and it becomes overwhelming, Dr. Genden said, like being held down in a swimming pool. Surely, he got away with so much because he was considered an exception to the rules with more than a whiff of the Nobel about him. Their devastating documentary, which aired in January 2016, led KI officials to reopen the investigation. Please try again later. Likewise the whole idea of a wedding: Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 30 years. Macchiarinis fall was swift, but troubling questions remain about why he was allowed to continue his experiments for so long. I Googled trachea transplant and Dr. Genden popped up. Allegations also emerged that the risky procedure was performed on at least one person who was not critically ill at the time. It is thus likely she has since passed away. Dr. Genden examines the new trachea by inserting a scope in a hole he left in her neck, which hell eventually close. Andemariam Beyene met up with Macchiarini in Iceland a year after his operation but later died Two more patients were also given transplants at the Karolinska As it was built from Claudias own cells, she didnt need to be on any risky immunosuppressant drugs. By the time the program aired, in mid-2014, the couple were planning their marriage. Even so, it wasnt until 2016 that the Karolinska Institute declined to renew his contract. We will send you a maximum of two emails in, We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. In the months and years following their respective surgeries, all of them except Dmitri Onogda have passed away due to post-operative complications. Benita Alexander Before their wedding, the Benita packed her bags again, and began to search for Paolo in order to face him once more and their final confrontation is captured in He Lied About Everything. Other trachea replacement attempts include transplanting part of a donors frozen, preserved aorta, the bodys main artery, and fabricating tracheas from patients own chest muscles and rib cartilage. Stem cell brain implants could 'slow ageing and extend life', study shows, offering to treat just about any ailment you can name, Pregnant women's stem cells could treat osteoporosis, say scientists. The maximum prison sentence for causing bodily harm is 4 years. The answer came only a couple of weeks later, when Swedish television began broadcasting a three-part expos of Macchiarini and his work. Benita Alexander with one of the custom-made gowns intended for her wedding [Investigation Discovery]. Likewise the secretary-general of the Nobel Committee. They didnt even seek the approval of Stockholms ethical review board, which is based at Karolinska. Macchiarini had often boasted to Alexander of his famous friends. Benita was loyal to and supported Paolo when his professional life took a dark turn. The very next day, she got an email from a friend that outlined the Pope's plans to visit South America on Benita and Paolo's wedding day. Philippines Reports of their success always seemed like hot air to him. He understood how difficult her life had become. According to The New York Times, Macchiarini is an Italian surgeon who was found criminally liable this June for causing felony bodily injury to a Turkish woman named Yesim Cetir, a patient who had received one of his 3D-printed windpipes and later died. Guided by a high-powered microscope, he used surgical thread half the diameter of a human hair. Her global quest to find out the truth about the man who left her personal and professional life in shambles is documented in He Lied About Everything on Investigation Discovery. It is also unclear whether the verdict Thursday will have an impact in other jurisdictions where Dr. Macchiarini conducted windpipe operations. Sonia Sein, outside her Bronx home, had irreparable damage to her trachea. He said yeah, so I said Lets go for it., After extracting the donors organs, you go next door and you open up Sonia and you remove the diseased trachea, and there is no going back, Dr. Genden said. We were doing good research, but it didnt matter I thought I was going to lose my lab, my staff everything.. Experts say this case is about what the definition of a resident is under Spanish law. But some of Alexander's friends began to become suspicious. Benita was also growing concerned about the cost of the wedding. In such dire circumstances, new treatments can be tried as a last resort. I could feel it in my lungs.. Change). You can see this in the speed with which his breakthroughs were accepted. Not only that, they later covered it up.. Macchiarinis fame had won him well-placed backers. Thereafter it was all over the news. In other countries, more of Macchiarinis patients died after receiving one of his artificial windpipes. Why dont the Electoral College and popular vote always match up? A good example is the NBC documentary A Leap of Faith. In their view, Macchiarini was certainly engaged in clinical research. She pushed through his appointment despite the fact that he had some very negative references and dubious claims on his rsum. George Floyd Pennsylvania Eduard Folayang He did this by chemically stripping away the cells of a windpipe taken from a deceased donor; he then seeded the bare scaffold with stem cells taken from Castillos own bone marrow. Subscribe to News from Science for full access to breaking news and analysis on research and science policy. The official report into the matter dubbed this the bandwagon effect. When Macchiarini accused one of them, Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, of stealing his work in a grant application, Hamsten found him guilty. Look out for a message in your inbox in. According to the Times, Macchiarini seen below in a 2017 interview on Swedens TV4 Nyheterna performed 20 tracheal regeneration procedures across Europe and in the United States but hid the fact that the transplants were failing. All but one died following severe complications with the implants. Sadly, she passed away soon after her second implant. Still, noting that previous attempts didnt show documented success, he cautioned that longer-term results were needed before the technique should be embraced, adding, Lets see how it works and how you can do it in more patients.. She considered backing out. At night, when she connected her tracheal tube to a ventilator, the alarm kept going off to let people know that I stopped breathing, said Ms. Sein, who hated causing her family concern. According to the magazine, in 2012 he was charged in Italy with attempted aggravated fraud related to alleged efforts to persuade very ill patients to undergo radical surgery at facilities where he had privileges. According to Pierre Delaere, a professor of respiratory surgery at KU Leuven, Belgium, Macchiarinis experiments were bound to end badly. Keep up with your favorite shows delivered to your inbox! COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday appealed a sentence given to an Italian surgeon who was put on trial for causing bodily harm during experimental stem-cell windpipe transplants on three patients who died. A surgeon who just a decade ago was celebrated around the globe as a pioneer in stem cell transplants has been convicted of one count of causing bodily harm, a felony, in a Swedish court. Paolo Macchiarini at a press conference in 2008. Los Angeles While many in Sweden expressed disappointment at what they saw as the leniency of the sentence, given that prosecutors had asked for five years in prison, the verdict nonetheless represented the culmination of a stunning fall from grace for a once high-flying surgeon. Every year, it gives science a show-business makeover, picking out from the mass of medical researchers those individuals deserving of superstardom. His recovery put Macchiarini on the front page of the New York Times. She became close to Paolo as she opened her heart to him about how hard it was for her daughter, then nine years old, to lose her father. You cant justify doing experimental surgery and immunosuppression when you see something else that looks perfect, so you realize, wow, were out of business., As Dr. Macchiarinis work drew criticism, Dr. Genden revived his idea, but was uncertain about trying it. With Macchiarinis exploits endorsed by management and breathlessly reported in the media, it was all too easy to jump on that bandwagon. But when Dr. Sander S. Florman, director of Mount Sinais Transplantation Institute, and LiveOnNY, a nonprofit organ donation organization, agreed to collaborate, his wife, Audrey, encouraged him. Now they were on the wedding guest list: the Obamas, the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Sarkozy and other world leaders. Alexander eventually fell in love with the surgeon, and in 2014, he proposed to her, and they started planning a lavish wedding for the following year. This went on for three years until, just recently, Grinnemo was cleared of all wrongdoing. He took the medical world by storm when he built and transplanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe two years earlier. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini [Investigation Discovery]. Another was a Russian mother named Julia Tuulik, per BBC News. Macchiarini has consistently claimed he is innocent. This argument didnt wash with those who later investigated the case. They reopened the case in 2020, this time charging Macchiarini on lesser counts of aggravated assault and severe bodily harm. Scientific pioneer, superstar surgeon, miracle worker thats how Paolo Macchiarini was known for several years. There Was Nothing Anybody Could Do for These Patients. Now There Is. The tube was necessary because her trachea the airway leading to the lungs had become damaged after she spent weeks on a ventilator for a severe asthma attack in 2014. Hundreds of Americans are estimated to die each year because techniques like stents, surgery or lasers cannot heal their damaged tracheas, and they suffocate when airways narrow dangerously or collapse. Nor did they impress the institutes ethics council when Delaere lodged a formal complaint. Were going to show up and say, As a student, I had this idea on the back of a napkin and now were ready to go and if it fails, the patient dies and it becomes yet another example of some surgeon who thought he could solve a problem and hes created, instead, just the opposite.. Investigations by the hospital and the Karolinska Institute revealed that issues with Dr. Macchiarinis work had been covered up. An advantage is that immunosuppressants are necessary only for several months, he said. Paolo stated in an interview with a TV station in Iceland that he has always acted in the patients' best interest, and believes that his procedures should be seen as successful. Guided by several mentors, he delved into research and animal experiments, developing a transplant approach. In January 2016, Macchiarini received an extraordinary double dose of bad press. We have, for example, a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. Four of Macchiarinis colleagues at KI, including Corbascio, filed official complaints in 2014 charging that several papers describing the surgeries deliberately left out serious complications in the patients. Dr. Macchiarini received a conditional, or suspended, sentence, and was acquitted of assault charges related to two other patients who had also received the artificial organs from him at the Swedish facility. In the first couple of years at Karolinska, he put plastic airways into three patients. WebIn reality, Paolo had not worked with the Pope, and he was still married to his wife of 30 years. He was 63 years old when he was found guilty of causing harm through negligence but not of carrying out an intentional assault and he received a probationary sentence on June 16, 2022. ABCs true-crime documentary series The Con premieres with the story of Paolo Macchiarini, who was once considered a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine but allegedly turned out to be just a fraud. The coronavirus pandemic will most likely create more cases because many Covid-19 patients have needed weeks on ventilators. The other patients were treated at hospitals in Barcelona, Florence, London, Moscow, Krasnodar, Chicago and Peoria. After Macchiarini fitted Cetir with one of his artificial windpipes in 2012, her condition worsened. He says prosecutors should have pressed for manslaughter charges because Macchiarini had no evidence that the tracheas he implanted would develop into normally functioning organs. Miss Universe 2021 In place of clinical data, there are gushing testimonials. Hes clearly bright and has accomplishments, but he cant contain himself. There are also plenty of desperate patients who believe because theyve been told countless times that stem cells are the cure, and who cannot wait any longer for mainstream medicine. The mild sentence comes as a disappointment to Macchiarinis critics. Each new scientific discovery brings a flood of stories about how it will revolutionise medicine one day soon. Your tax-deductible contribution plays a critical role in sustaining this effort. Watch He Lied About Everything on ID GO now! In 2017, after another hospital said everything possible had been tried, she felt desperate. Macchiarini gave his regenerating windpipes to 17 or more patients worldwide. Which left a big, burning question in the air: if Macchiarini was a pathological liar in matters of love, what about his medical research? Likewise, they didnt undertake a proper risk assessment of the procedure, nor did Macchiarinis team seek government permits for the plastic windpipes, stem cells, and chemical growth factors they used. New York The media began calling him "Dr. Frankenstein" and said that he committed "the world's biggest medical fraud.". Help News from Science publish trustworthy, high-impact stories about research and the people who shape it. Support for Macchiarini remained strong, even as his patients began to die. Paolo then came across Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, a man from Eritrea who was training to be a doctor when he got diagnosed with cancer. California And after hiring a private investigator, Ms Alexander found that Dr Macchiarini, pictured, was a man of more modest means living in Barcelona and that he was still married to his wife of 30 years Ms Alexander told Vanity Fair: 'I just didn't want to put two and two together. Meanwhile, Macchiarinis career soared. Its a problematic idea with unfortunate side effects. Abu Dhabi Gerdins report, released in May 2015, concluded Macchiarini was guilty of misconduct, but university administrators rejected that conclusion 3 months later, arguing Macchinarini and his co-authors had satisfactorily countered the issues Gerdin raised. The procedure involved replacing a damaged trachea with a plastic replica that had been soaked in the patients stem cells. But they found prosecutors didnt prove Macchiarini was indifferent to the injuries or suffering that the surgeries might cause, the standard required for aggravated assault. Starting in 2011, Macchiarini performed three transplantations of synthetic tracheas at Karolinska University Hospital, but one of those patients died in 2012, the timeline reports. Paolo Macchiarini was amazingly accomplished, stunningly successful, and fabulously rich. Dr. Delaere developed another innovative method, performed on nine patients so far: implanting a section of donor trachea in a patients forearm for weeks until it develops blood vessels and can replace part of the patients trachea. Dr. Genden said Dr. Macchiarinis rise and fall profoundly affected his own path. One was a 2-year-old girl named Hannah Warren, on whom hed operated in Peoria, IL, in 2013, according to Vanity Fair. Macchiarini was fired in 2016 amid allegations of fraud and scientific misconduct after many of his transplant recipients died. The court said the penalty was a suspended sentence, but did not specify how long the sentence would be if imposed. In addition to his partner of over 30 years, he also had a special next woman. But on Thursday, the surgeon, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, was found criminally liable by a Swedish court for causing felony bodily injury to a patient he had fitted with one of the windpipes at a medical university in Sweden. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. He convinced the Karolinska Institute that this could make them famous, and they just let him do it. The first season of both the Peacock series and the Wondery podcast of the same name told the story of Christopher Duntsch, a former neurosurgeon now serving a life sentence for botched surgeries that left more than 30 patients maimed or dead. Next month, she will turn 57. LONDON It sounded like real-life science fiction a 3-D printed organ, a groundbreaking artificial windpipe, built in a laboratory and made to order. She spent more than three years in intensive care and endured 200 surgical procedures, theTimes reports. For their efforts, the whistleblowers were punished. WebPaolo Macchiarini (born 22 August 1958): 2 is a Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and Cardiothoracic surgeon Matthias Corbascio, one of Macchiarinis former colleagues at KI who first raised questions about the work, describes it as terrible and insane. The court basically gave him a slap on the wrist, says Corbascio, who is now at the University of Copenhagen. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. In the same year, he earned his medical degree from the, In 1989, he took a course on statistics in clinical research at, In 1994, he obtained a masters degree certificate in organ and tissue transplantation from the, From 2006 to 2009, he was an investigator at the, In June 2008, he performed a trachea transplant on, He performed a synthetic trachea transplant on, In 2012, he was charged in Italy with attempted aggravated fraud. Chief judge Bjoern Skaensberg said the court agreed that Macchiarinis operations were not consistent with science and proven experience, but the court determined that two of the interventions were justifiable.. Benita Alexander had no way of knowing that, by the end of her love story, her heart would be broken and many of Paolos patients who received the miracle transplants would be dead. The Vatican confirmed that he had never been the Pope's doctor. Brazilian MMA fighters Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. For Ms. Sein, the procedure was a long-sought dream. A panel of judges unanimously ruled that the interventions were not in accordance with science and proven experience, according to a statement released today. There was nothing anybody could do for these patients, said Dr. Genden, who became captivated by the problem in medical school 30 years ago after a patient with a tracheal tumor died. And the TV shows second season, announced earlier this month, will cover the podcasts third, with Edgar Ramirez playing Paolo Macchiarini, and This Is Us star Mandy Moore playing Benita Alexander, an investigative journalist who falls into a whirlwind romance with the doctor. She had subsequently undergone six major surgeries and more than 10 smaller procedures, but with all conventional approaches to address her condition exhausted, she made plans to have the tube removed and receive only palliative care. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. But in October 2017, the attorney general's office announced that a crime could not be proven, because the patients might have died anyway. He hopes the immunosuppressant drugs, which can create health risks, can be reduced or even stopped if the entire graft becomes filled with Sonias cells.. Award-winning documentary-maker Benita Alexander was swept off her feet by renowned Italian doctor Paolo Macchiarini in 2013 while she was working on a story about his pioneering medical work. Largely confined to her Bronx apartment, she needed home health aides and had to quit her career as a social worker for pregnant women. Stem cell research is a hot field of science and, according to statistics, also a rather scandal-prone one. KI fired Macchiarini in March 2016, 2 months after the Swedish documentary came out. None other than Pope Francis would officiate, and his papal palace in Castel Gandolfo would serve as the venue. They also cited a loophole known as compassionate use. He has been convicted of research-related crimes in Italy and Sweden. Here are 13 more things about him: Categories: biographical data, crimes, Europe, fitness & health, Italy, Lifestyle, LISTS, Russia, Social Issues, Sweden, Tagged as: Basel, Benita Alexander, Emanuela Pecchia, Paolo Macchiarini. Learn how your comment data is processed. Benita said that, if she can take any lessons away from what happened to her, she hopes that her experience will help others. All rights reserved. He officially cleared Macchiarini of scientific misconduct, allowing merely that hed sometimes acted without due care. He convinced the Karolinska Institute that this could make them famous, and they just let him do it. Seven of the eight patients Paolo inserted tracheas into have died. Probationwtf.he killed people knowing damn well that his trachea was bs! Paolo Macchiarini is exposed Reality struck Alexander's fantasy romance eight weeks before she was supposed to marry Macchiarini in 2015, when she received an email from a colleague with the subject line saying, "The Pope." His operation was on June 9, 2011, at the Karolinska University Hospital, where he received the upgraded plastic trachea made at University College London. In their view, he was grossly misrepresenting his results and the health of his patients. About 11 centimeters (4 inches) long, one side curves like a halfpipe, composed of cartilage rings and ligaments. After realizing other treatment methods wouldnt help, he concluded that Ms. Sein had a logical, thoughtful grasp of transplantations risks and of her health condition. Wasnt something of this idea behind the special treatment Karolinska gave Macchiarini? Photographs document Ms. Seins trachea transformation: Her old windpipe looks raw and red, her new one smooth as porcelain. The court ruling Thursday was in a case involving a Turkish woman named Yesim Cetir, who was the longest surviving of his patients at Karolinska. COVID-19 Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. ONE Championship That drama began about a decade ago when Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, working at Swedens famed Karolinska Institute, garnered headlines and accolades for replacing damaged tracheas with plastic tubes seeded with patients stem cells that he cultivated in devices called bioreactors. It relieved a little bit of burden from him.. Dmitris graft had started collapsing six months into his surgery as well, but he managed to get it successfully removed and is now living with a tracheostomy. In September, a Swedish prosecutor indicted him on aggravated assault charges related to three trachea transplants. From November 2011 to June 2014, Paolo Macchiarini gave transplants to Christopher Lyles, Yulia Tuulik, Alexander Zozulya, Yesim Cetir, Hannah Warren (a 3-year-old), Sadiq Kanaan, and Dmitri Onogda. The couple had traveled extensively, but there were a After being dismissed from the institute, he worked at the Kazan Federal University in Kazan, Russia. We would have been planning my funeral, she said, but now were planning a birthday party.. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. Nevada All rights reserved.