Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini in Venice, Italy [Investigation Discovery]. Allegations also emerged that the risky procedure was performed on at least one person who was not critically ill at the time. 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But as time went on, she could not resist her connection to the dashing surgeon and she violated the number one rule of journalism: Never get involved with a person you're reporting on. Who Were Paolo Macchiarinis Victims? - The Cinemaholic Tennessee The pope, the palace, the world leaders, the famous tenor they were all fantasies. We will send you a maximum of two emails in, We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Paolo, a visiting researcher at the prestigious Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, had shot to fame as the only doctor in the world who was able to use biological and synthetic scaffolds bathed in the patients' own stem cells for trachea transplants. 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. He should be given death penalty! In place of clinical data, there are gushing testimonials. Brazil Mieke Oorts alleged killer used a GPS tracking device to stalk her and would drive up and down the road where she lived to intimidate her. Now his reputation lies in tatters. The popular press also has a lot to answer for. Please try again later. 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. There was another woman from the Czech Republic with mucoepidermoid carcinoma who received such a transplant. The transplants, performed on patients from the United States and other countries, were heralded as inaugurating a regenerative medicine revolution. In the months and years following their respective surgeries, all of them except Dmitri Onogda have passed away due to post-operative complications. KI officials let him do this. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. They didnt even seek the approval of Stockholms ethical review board, which is based at Karolinska. A few years ago, Japans Haruko Obokata pulled a similar con when she announced to the world a new and simple and fake method of turning ordinary body cells into stem cells. Macchiarinis deceit was so outlandish, Vanity Fair sought the opinion of the Harvard professor Ronald Schouten, an expert on psychopaths, who gave this diagnosis-at-a-distance: Macchiarini is the extreme form of a con man. Dr. Gerdin said Dr. Macchiarini was allowed to continue his procedures for so long because the Karolinska Institute and its hospital allowed him to do so. According to Pierre Delaere, a professor of respiratory surgery at KU Leuven, Belgium, Macchiarinis experiments were bound to end badly. She received another Her friends described him as "Mr. Big" from Sex and the City. China The only question was how long it would take weeks, months or a few years. Delaere feels the sentence is too light for what he considers a serious crime. There are people who go to jail for 5 years for not paying their taxes. Border crisis: Whats happening at the US-Mexico border? 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. On the contrary, they seemed to do more harm than good something that Macchiarini had for years concealed or downplayed in his scientific articles, press releases and interviews. She visits Mount Sinai weekly for blood work. Change). 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. They allowed Macchiarini to continue his work as a visiting professor with a research lab. He officially cleared Macchiarini of scientific misconduct, allowing merely that hed sometimes acted without due care. Besides which, compassionate concerns dont override the basic principles of patient safety and informed consent. The vice-chancellor, Anders Hamsten, resigned. Thereafter it was all over the news. But that, and the fact that he had multiple cell phones for different countries, she chalked up to his demanding job and constant international travel. North Carolina We were doing good research, but it didnt matter I thought I was going to lose my lab, my staff everything.. Seven of the eight patients Paolo inserted tracheas into have died. Although all three patients eventually died, Dr. Macchiarini was not directly accused of killing them. Because immunosuppressant drugs are required to prevent rejection of the transplant, cancer patients would be eligible only if free of cancer for five years, Dr. Genden said. Colorado In the case of Cetir, he should have known the risk of complications was higher than the expected benefit, the judges ruled. The apparent success of Ms. Seins operation is also notable because the trachea field has been rocked for years by a sensational scandal. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. Stem cell research is a hot field of science and, according to statistics, also a rather scandal-prone one. That's when, Benita said, it hit her: She had given up a good job and spent $50,000 on a "bogus fantasy wedding" to a man who already had at least two families. Texas And investigations by both institute and the hospital found coverups regarding Macchiarinis work. 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. Even the jewelry he had given her was Remembering George Floyd: A year of protest. Instead, they found him guilty of negligence and the lesser charge of causing bodily harm. He could see no real evidence that the windpipe scaffolds were becoming living, functioning airways in which case, they were destined to fail. Washington 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. She received a new trachea in January and is believed to be the first patient in the world to undergo a successful direct transplant of a donor trachea. He opened and cleaned out the donors esophagus, laying it against Ms. Seins esophagus. But some of Alexander's friends began to become suspicious. Paolo Macchiarini traveled to Illinois to operate on toddler Hannah Warren, who was born without a trachea in 2013. KI commissioned surgeon Bengt Gerdin, a professor emeritus at Uppsala University, to investigate the issue. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Its a problematic idea with unfortunate side effects. 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. Scientific pioneer, superstar surgeon, miracle worker thats how Paolo Macchiarini was known for several years. You start to panic because you cant breathe., By early 2020, ethical approvals were in place, but the coronavirus pandemic held things up. Unfortunately, due to complications, she passed away either around Christmas of that year or in the first few months of 2009. In addition to his partner of over 30 years, he also had a special next woman. So did Karolinskas dean of research. Ms. Seins trachea before, left, and her new transplanted trachea. The university board was dismissed and even Harriet Wallberg, whod moved on to become the chancellor for all Swedish universities, lost her job. Kentucky In other countries, more of Macchiarinis patients died after receiving one of his artificial windpipes. 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. 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. The coronavirus pandemic will most likely create more cases because many Covid-19 patients have needed weeks on ventilators. It did much the same for Macchiarinis windpipe replacements. Plus: NYC sixth-grader struck and killed by stray bullet; New Hampshire police search for person of interest in double homicide; Fyre Festival fraudster released early from prison; and manhunt continues for escaped Texas prisoner. So, how much is Paolo Macchiarini worth at the age of 64 years old? For Ms. Sein, the procedure was a long-sought dream. BRAVE Combat Federation The court had to apply the intentional indifference standard for the assault charges, he says, which is difficult to prove. The couple had traveled a lot, but there were some things Any replacement trachea must be rigid or itll collapse like a straw in a McDonalds milkshake, Dr. Genden said. Experts say this case is about what the definition of a resident is under Spanish law. Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. Her ex-husband John was dying of cancer. Karolinskas leadership expected big things from their superstar, things that would bring prestige and funding to the institute. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. He convinced the Karolinska Institute that this could make them famous, and they just let him do it. Benita Alexander Thought Paolo Macchiarini Was Her Dream Man Louisiana Woman Disappeared After Giving Somebody A Ride, 5 Things That Still Bother Us About The Unsolved Maura Murray Case, Two Texas Teens Left After Curfew In 1988 And Never Returned, What Happened To Zion Foster? Macchiarinis lawyer declined to comment to Swedish media today about whether his client would appeal. We have, for example, a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. None of these institutions have faced the same kind of public scrutiny. According to Macchiarini and his colleagues, her artificial organ was well on the way to looking and functioning liked a natural one. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. She says she feels she has been given a chance of being alive one more time.. She says it may mean the judges thought he and the patients believed time was short and options were few. Beyenes death two and a half years after the operation, caused by the failure of his artificial airway, was a grueling ordeal. 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. It won Dr. Macchiarini international news coverage and cemented his place as a celebrity scientist. Macchiarini was also charged with but acquitted of assault charges related to the deaths of two more of his artificial windpipe patients, an Eritrean man named Andemariam Beyene and an American man named Christopher Lyles, according to BBC News. The couple has been married for 30 years now. His findings at the time concluded that Dr. Macchiarini had committed scientific misconduct, but this was ultimately ignored by the universitys leadership who chose to clear the Italian surgeon. Even so, it wasnt until 2016 that the Karolinska Institute declined to renew his contract. By using a patients own cells, Dr. Macchiarini sought to rectify an age-old problem with transplants involving donated organs, which the body sometimes rejects as foreign tissue. The other side is flat and mobile to move air to the lungs. But even if his days had been numbered, this didnt necessarily justify what Macchiarini put him through. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. We have estimated Paolo Macchiarini's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Macchiarinis fall was swift, but troubling questions remain about why he was allowed to continue his experiments for so long. The donor was a young man (identifying details are being withheld to protect privacy). As Grinnemo recalls, it nearly destroyed his career: I didnt receive any new grants. I didnt want Paolo to not be the man I believed him to be, she told Vanity Fair. There he reinvented his technique. Death Season 2, Mandy Moore Joins Dr. Its very significant, said Dr. Pierre Delaere, a professor of head and neck surgery at University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Belgium, a trachea specialist not involved in the case. The secret sauce in his approach, he said, is transplanting not just the donor trachea but also its attached esophagus (food tube), thyroid gland and thyroid arteries. Last year, however, the dream soured, exposing an ugly reality. Science and AAAS are working tirelessly to provide credible, evidence-based information on the latest scientific research and policy, with extensive free coverage of the pandemic. They also questioned whether Macchiarini had obtained proper ethical permission for the surgeries and challenged a paper describing animal experiments with the technique. The Karolinska Institute was seduced by Macchiarini, Gerdin told the newspaper. Photographs document Ms. Seins trachea transformation: Her old windpipe looks raw and red, her new one smooth as porcelain. Family Seeks JusticeAfter Her Disappearance, Oregon Mother Of Four Who Was To Meet Up With Teen Son Suddenly Vanishes, Husband Of Missing Massachusetts Woman Charged With Her Murder, 8 Things To Know About The Nicholas Barclay Disappearance And Ensuing Deception, I'm Still Searching For My Baby: Georgia Mother Hopes For Answers In Daughters Disappearance, A Woman Disappeared From A Group Hike And Was Never Seen Again. Most protagonists on medical dramas are modern-day heroes. Prosecutors asked for a five-year prison sentence for Macchiarinis liability in Cetirs bodily injury, but a Swedish court instead gave him a suspended sentence this June, deciding that he hadnt intended to cause the patients harm, according to BBC News. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm This was the start of a whirlwind romance that included five-star hotels, travel to far-flung locations, and extravagant shopping sprees. Gerdin says the conviction on one count still shows that health care doesnt stand above the law. So far he has not been prosecuted in any of those countries. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for defrauding the elderly. This went on for three years until, just recently, Grinnemo was cleared of all wrongdoing. 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. 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. In 2019, an Italian court said he had forged documents and abused his position, charges unrelated to his trachea work. Instead of stripping the cells from donor windpipes, Macchiarini had plastic scaffolds made to order. Benita told CrimeFeed that Paolo always paid for everything and was "extremely generous." But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. 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." The Macchiarini scandal claimed many of his powerful friends. Prior to this, he was regarded as a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine using both biological and synthetic scaffolds seeded with patients own stem cells as trachea transplants. Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. The story portrayed Macchiarini, who was already married at the time, as a serial fabulist who exaggerated or lied about degrees, academic appointments, and personal accomplishments. The operation, performed at one of the worlds most prestigious medical universities, part of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was hailed as revolutionary. At any rate, some of his most powerful friends were themselves Nobel judges until, with his fall from grace, they fell too. They shared a happy relationship. In the first couple of years at Karolinska, he put plastic airways into three patients. But for now, lets focus solely on his medical patients, shall we? Paolo Macchiarinis most notable patient is Claudia Castillo. Born in 1977, this Colombian living in Spain woman suffered from tuberculosis-damaged airways. Macchiarini had often boasted to Alexander of his famous friends. The law is supposed to protect individuals from all types of assault, especially when they are powerless, said Dr. Bengt Gerdin, an independent investigator who was hired by the Karolinska Institute in 2015 to look into Dr. Macchiarinis work. Coming from different countries including Eritrea, Spain, Russian, Iceland, Britain and the United States, 20 patients were operated on by Macchiarini, who provide them with an artificial windpipe. Abu Dhabi What's next for abortion rights in America? A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. Georgia Karolinska Institute announced in February 2016 that it would not renew his research contract, which was due to expire in November 2016, then terminated the contract in December 2016. Thats something that was new to us, so we need to analyze that, Lundstrm-Kron says. Donald Trump These included Harriet Wallberg, who was the vice-chancellor of the Karolinska Institute in 2010, when Macchiarini was recruited. Talking about her spouse Paolo, he became infamous for research fraud and manipulative behavior. February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini. With Macchiarinis exploits endorsed by management and breathlessly reported in the media, it was all too easy to jump on that bandwagon. Georgia Teen Vanished In South Carolina, Search Continues For North Carolina Girl, 11, Whose Parents Didnt Report Her Missing For Weeks, Where Is Ella Goodie? The Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. It is thus likely she has since passed away. After several weeks in recovery, she is home. (The patient who survived had the implant removed.). She spent more than three years in intensive care and endured 200 surgical procedures, theTimes reports. Its like when you get on a rocket ship., At times, he felt in a dreamlike state, he said. Benita first met Paolo at the bar at Bostons Mandarin Oriental hotel in February 2013, when she was helping coordinate an interview for an NBC special on regenerative medicine. The different gender was important, allowing Dr. Genden to use chromosomal analysis to detect whether Ms. Seins cells populated the new trachea. Benita traveled to Paolo's Barcelona home with two friends and a video camera. Look out for a message in your inbox in. Andemariam Beyene, for instance, had recurrent cancer of the windpipe but, aside from a cough, was still in good health. 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. AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. Massachusetts While there isnt enough data to actually prove this, we do have some key indicators. 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. When the blood vessels were finally connected, the donor trachea began bleeding. By June 2013, when Paolo took Benita to Venice, Italy, for a romantic weekend, she knew she was falling madly in love. According to hospital staff, she had roughly 40 near-death experiences during this time, the judgment said. Macchiarini, who denied the charges against him, wasnt directly accused of killing any of the three patients. Dr. Genden said some scientists told him Youre out of your mind because trying a transplant would risk his reputation. The felony conviction means Macchiarini would have a hard time finding employment again in Sweden, Gerdin says. No one wanted to collaborate with me. She pushed through his appointment despite the fact that he had some very negative references and dubious claims on his rsum. As it turned out, Macchiarinis patients werent all at deaths door at the time he treated them. Your tax-deductible contribution plays a critical role in sustaining this effort. In late 2014, four doctors in Sweden accused him of fraud, saying that he'd falsified data in six of the papers he had published. Andrea Bocelli was to sing at the ceremony. In Macchiarinis case, the hope was that patients could be treated with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow. Every year, it gives science a show-business makeover, picking out from the mass of medical researchers those individuals deserving of superstardom. She was wearing a blonde wig, and her nervous laughter is audible on the video they shot. You can see this in the speed with which his breakthroughs were accepted. fall of a celebrity scientist But after Alexander learned that Pope Francis was scheduled to visit South America at the time of their wedding, she confronted Macchiarini about his claims. However, behind closed doors, Dr. Macchiarini was hiding a secret the procedures were not working. 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 manipulative behavior. So in 2010, Paolo operated on her at the National Research Center of Surgery in Moscow. Stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was accused of wrongdoing during operations on three people between 2011 and 2014. (LogOut/ In his case, his stem cells were seeded into the airway just hours before it was implanted into him, making it work perfectly fine. A genius is a revolutionary by definition, a risk-taker and a law-breaker. When you implant a synthetic trachea you have one certainty, and that is that the patient will die as a result of it, Delaere says in the email. 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. George Floyd And it needs a blood supply to connect to the patients vascular system. Despite having a wife and a family, Paolo was in a public affair with the internet star Benita Alexandra. Paolo Macchiarini at a press conference in 2008. Team Lakay 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Thousands of people in the United States alone develop trachea problems each year from burns, birth defects, tumors and extended intubation on ventilators. He was handsome, suave, and a charmer. Back in New York, Benita found herself unable to stop thinking about Paolo's patients. Get more great content like this delivered right to you! He understood how difficult her life had become. Anyone can read what you share. No, he was just caring for his patients who were, one and all, facing certain death with no other treatment options available and no time to waste. 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. Paolo Macchiarini: Surgeon convicted for fatal Swedish - BBC In 2016, Claudia returned to the Hospital Clinic to have her left lung removed, and as per the last reports, she is now alive and doing relatively well. None other than Pope Francis would officiate, and his papal palace in Castel Gandolfo would serve as the venue. He is from Italy. That drama began about a decade ago when Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, working at Swedens famed Karolinska Institute, garnered headlines and accolades for replacing More than a decade ago, Macchiarini became a superstar in the field of medicine when he implanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe, a plastic structure that used the patients stem cells to reduce the risk of organ rejection. A Swedish filmmakers investigative documentary raised further questions, as did a Vanity Fair article detailing how the beguiling surgeon became romantically involved with an NBC producer working on a feature about him and apparently conned her into believing he was divorced and would marry her in a ceremony officiated by the pope and attended by the Clintons, Obamas, John Legend and Elton John. 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. A panel of judges unanimously ruled that the interventions were not in accordance with science and proven experience, according to a statement released today. Benita Alexander on attending Paolo Macchiarinis criminal trial in Sweden Alexander said she attended Macchiarini's trial for closure, seven years after she was In 2018, KI finally released the findings of its second investigation, which confirmed he had committed misconduct. One biomedical researcher has documented a total of 20 tracheal regeneration procedures by Macchiarini in Russia, Spain, Britain, and the United States, as well as Sweden. "Maybe it happened because I am a journalist, and once I sort of woke up and put my journalist hat back on, I could expose him," she said. The first successful direct transplant of a trachea is a medical milestone that could help thousands of people with airways damaged by ventilators and other causes. He has been convicted of research-related crimes in Italy and Sweden. surgeon's personal and professional lives converged Most, including Andemariam Beyene, are now dead. Ciaran Lynch, born in 2000 in Ireland without a functional trachea, received a transplant on March 15, 2010, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Likewise the whole idea of a wedding: Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 30 years. Claudia Castillo with Dr Paolo Macchiarini. Another was a Russian mother named Julia Tuulik, per BBC News. And because it was built from Castillos own cells, she didnt need to be on any risky immunosuppressant drugs. Chatri Sityodtong But Benita, at the time an award-winning investigative news producer for NBC, had no way of knowing that, by the end of her love story, her heart would be broken and many of Paolo's patients who received the "miracle" transplants would be dead.

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