Macchiarinis argument that KI fully supported and encouraged the surgeries likely swayed the judges as well, he says. He says, Ive created this bioreactor and its stem cells and it makes tracheas. And its huge., Dr. Genden said that when he and colleagues questioned Dr. Macchiarini at a conference early on, in his bigger-than-life way he says, This is ridiculous, you dont know what youre talking about, it functions beautifully., Dr. Genden thought his work had become obsolete, so you basically shut down the lab, he said. Bangkok ONE Super Series We now know that wasnt true. Donald Trump 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. 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. Delaere feels the sentence is too light for what he considers a serious crime. Benita was also growing increasingly concerned, because she had not yet been introduced to Paolo's children or even seen where she was meant to live with him in Barcelona. Paolo Macchiarinis most notable patient is Claudia Castillo. 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. Although the difference in his birthplace, he is known to be an Italian by his nationality. She met Macchiarini while producing A Leap of Faith and was soon breaking one of the cardinal rules of journalism: dont fall in love with the subject of your story. According to the Karolinska Institutes timeline of the Macchiarini case, the institute recruited Macchiarini as a visiting professor of regenerative medicine/stem cell biology in 2010, and the associated Karolinska University Hospital gave him a part-time contract as a consultant and surgeon around the same time. Death Season 2, Mandy Moore Joins Dr. However, Swedish TV reporters also decided to take a close look at Macchiarinis work. After several weeks in recovery, she is home. Gretchen Vogel is a contributing correspondent for Science magazine based in Berlin, Germany. Today, Ms. Sein, 56, dances and plays tag with her grandchildren and plans to resume working, possibly as an acupuncturist. Its a problematic idea with unfortunate side effects. Only three are still alive as of September 2020. Claudia Castillo with Dr Paolo Macchiarini. Then, in October of 2009, another woman, who had been operated on by Paolo twice before, received her airway transplant. Alexander admits that, at the time, she was in a vulnerable place. How did the GameStop stock spike on Wall Street happen? With Macchiarinis exploits endorsed by management and breathlessly reported in the media, it was all too easy to jump on that bandwagon. She remained conscious and awake throughout most of them, but unable to breathe. 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. But of 20 patients, including children, most ultimately died, and scientists said Dr. Macchiarini misrepresented data and exaggerated his techniques effectiveness. 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.CreditSarah Blesener for The New York Times. Here are 13 more things about him: He married Pecchia in 1986. Talking about her spouse Benita Alexander on attending Paolo Macchiarinis criminal trial in Sweden Alexander said she attended Macchiarini's trial for closure, seven years after she was The Macchiarini scandal claimed many of his powerful friends. They will especially examine the judges decision that Macchiarini couldnt be held responsible for what happened to Andemariam and Lyles because he acted in distress, according to the courts statement. The Vatican confirmed that he had never been the Pope's doctor. 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. 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. They planned to marry in the Catholic Church in Italy. 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. A good example is the NBC documentary A Leap of Faith. But it was already too late. If the sins of Karolinska have been committed elsewhere, it is partly because medical research facilities share a common milieu, which harbours common dangers. In the first couple of years at Karolinska, he put plastic airways into three patients. And investigations by both institute and the hospital found coverups regarding Macchiarinis work. They didnt. He was one of the best con men I have ever come across. The only question was how long it would take weeks, months or a few years. 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A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. Gerdin says the conviction on one count still shows that health care doesnt stand above the law. In 2018, KI finally released the findings of its second investigation, which confirmed he had committed misconduct. So I called and called till I got an appointment., Dr. Genden said Ms. Sein beseeched him for the transplant, saying, You need to do this for me or Im going to end my life.. A High-Flying Italian Surgeons Fall From Grace, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/world/europe/macchiarini-windpipe-surgeon-deaths.html. It showed department heads and colleagues that they should give Macchiarini special treatment.He could do pretty much as he pleased. Her transformation follows a groundbreaking experimental procedure she underwent in January: the first time, medical experts believe, a donor trachea has been successfully directly transplanted into another person. If there is a moral to this tale, its that we need to be wary of medical messiahs with their promises of salvation. It is thus likely she has since passed away. In 2010, the Italian surgeon was recruited by KIhome of the committee that awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In place of clinical data, there are gushing testimonials. The vice-chancellor, Anders Hamsten, resigned. Miss Universe 2021 And in 2014, four Karolinska University Hospital doctors filed two separate reports claiming that Macchiarinis scientific papers described exaggerated the positive results of the operations and incorrectly describe[d] the postoperative status of the patients and the functionality of the implant, the timeline says. Japan Guided by several mentors, he delved into research and animal experiments, developing a transplant approach. On Jan. 12, Dr. Genden got a call: An appropriate donor had died. The Karolinska Institute declined to comment for this article, noting only that Dr. Macchiarinis sentence may be appealed. Its actually meaningless for him, Gerdin says. As he said in Experimenten: If I had the option of a synthetic trachea or a firing squad, Id choose the last option because it would be the least painful form of execution.. Countless news stories declared it a medical breakthrough. Which left a big, burning question in the air: if Macchiarini was a pathological liar in matters of love, what about his medical research? For their efforts, the whistleblowers were punished. He took the medical world by storm when he built and transplanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe two years earlier. Acquittal is therefore difficult to defend., But Gerdin says the verdict is not unexpected. In January 2016, Macchiarini received an extraordinary double dose of bad press. But even if his days had been numbered, this didnt necessarily justify what Macchiarini put him through. Macchiarini, meanwhile, said he did not accept the findings of the disciplinary board. And it needs a blood supply to connect to the patients vascular system. He convinced the Karolinska Institute that this could make them famous, and they just let him do it. Minnesota The court said the penalty was a suspended sentence, but did not specify how long the sentence would be if imposed. For the respect of privacy, his wifes identity is not revealed on the internet. By the time the program aired, in mid-2014, the couple were planning their marriage. 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. Philippines According to Macchiarini and his colleagues, her artificial organ was well on the way to looking and functioning liked a natural one. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. It must be lined with cilia, hairlike projections like shag carpeting that move and clean the air we breathe in, he said. Massachusetts Yet, for the vast majority of such treatments, there is little solid evidence that they work. In 2017, Paolo worked at a university in Russia, where he was given a federal grant for oesophagus research on primates, and operated on baboons rather than humans. According to the judgment in Macchiarinis case, hospital staff said that Cetir had around 40 near-death experiences and was conscious but unable to breathe for many of them. 2nd Impeachment Trial: What this could mean for Trump, Presidential transition of power: Examined, How Donald Trump spent his last days as president, How Joe Biden's inauguration will be different from previous years, Trump challenges the vote and takes legal action, 2020s DNC and RNC are different than any before, Power Trip: Those Who Seek Power and Those Who Chase Them, Leave No Trace: A Hidden History of the Boy Scouts, Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, The Orphans of COVID: America's Hidden Toll, X / o n e r a t e d - The Murder of Malcolm X and 55 Years to Justice, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The Italian surgeon and his Italian wife Emanuela Pecchia have one son and one daughter. In April 2017, the university terminated his project. Remembering George Floyd: A year of protest. Washington At the trial, Macchiarini and his lawyer argued that the patients, with no other options, had been treated under compassionate care standards. The first person to receive one of these was Andemariam Beyene, an Eritrean doctoral student in geology at the University of Iceland. 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. 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. 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. Theres a void in his personality that he seems to want to fill by conning more and more people.. Now his reputation lies in tatters. The plastic trachea that Yesim Cetir received disfigured her and made her last three years in life basically like torture, said Bosse Lindquist, a documentarian who broke the story in Sweden about Dr. Macchiarini in a television series, The Experiment.. But owing to her cancer returning and the formation of a fistula, she too passed away. I have to expose him.". Despite having a wife and a family, Paolo was in a public affair with the internet star Benita Alexandra. There Was Nothing Anybody Could Do for These Patients. Now There Is. That drama began about a decade ago when Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, working at Swedens famed Karolinska Institute, garnered headlines and accolades for replacing "If I made a checklist of what I wanted a man to be, he had everything.". In early 2014, four Karolinska doctors defied the reigning culture of silence by complaining about Macchiarini. (LogOut/ We have, for example, a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. Almost immediately after she was fitted with a synthetic trachea in August 2012, Ms. Cetirs condition began to rapidly deteriorate, according to the courts written judgment. By this year, Dr. Genden said, her condition had deteriorated so that if we delay further, its not going to work out.. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Two investigations, one by the Karolinska Institute and one by Karolinska University Hospital, both found that problems with Dr. Macchiarinis work had been covered up. Ms. Seins trachea before, left, and her new transplanted trachea. I can breathe, she was amazed to discover. As of late March, 6.5 percent of cells in the donor trachea were hers, with the proportion increasing, he said. Benita was also growing concerned about the cost of the wedding. February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini. As Grinnemo recalls, it nearly destroyed his career: I didnt receive any new grants. I dont want to live like this, she concluded. Paolo was a world-renowned surgeon who spoke six languages, mingled with the global elite, and resembled George Clooney. A panel of judges unanimously ruled that the interventions were not in accordance with science and proven experience, according to a statement released today. Its enough to worry officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Every patient had another, nonlethal option, Pierre Delaere, a trachea expert at KU Leuven and an early critic of Macchiarini, said in an email to Science. The surgeons defense attorney, Bjrn Hurtig, said his client was considering an appeal. A year later, he began to implant synthetic windpipes seeded with stem cells isolated from the patients own bone marrow, claiming the cells would grow and integrate with the patients tissue. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. He was born in Basel, Switzerland to Italian parents. Every year, it gives science a show-business makeover, picking out from the mass of medical researchers those individuals deserving of superstardom. They allowed Macchiarini to continue his work as a visiting professor with a research lab. Nor did they impress the institutes ethics council when Delaere lodged a formal complaint. They shared a happy relationship. None of these institutions have faced the same kind of public scrutiny. She soon went into full-on investigative journalist mode, and learned that Paolo had, yup lied about everything. He is still licensed to practice medicine in Europe. Stem cell clinics have sprung up like weeds, offering to treat just about any ailment you can name. 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. WebIn reality, Paolo had not worked with the Pope, and he was still married to his wife of 30 years. Or rather, his celebrity status helped him do so. The story portrayed Macchiarini, who was already married at the time, as a serial fabulist who exaggerated or lied about degrees, academic appointments, and But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. 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. Instead, they found him guilty of negligence and the lesser charge of causing bodily harm. Benita Alexander thought that she was living a real-life fairy tale when she met her fianc, Paolo Macchiarini. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? According to Pierre Delaere, a professor of respiratory surgery at KU Leuven, Belgium, Macchiarinis experiments were bound to end badly. One was a 2-year-old girl named Hannah Warren, on whom hed operated in Peoria, IL, in 2013, according to Vanity Fair. Benita traveled to Paolo's Barcelona home with two friends and a video camera. Benita told CrimeFeed that Paolo always paid for everything and was "extremely generous." Now they were on the wedding guest list: the Obamas, the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Sarkozy and other world leaders. In 2016, Vanity Fair published an expose on Paolo that uncovered even more damning evidence. In the case of Cetir, he should have known the risk of complications was higher than the expected benefit, the judges ruled. Called Experimenten (The Experiments), it argued convincingly that Macchiarinis artificial windpipes were not the life-saving wonders wed all been led to believe. Karolinskas leadership expected big things from their superstar, things that would bring prestige and funding to the institute. Macchiarini gave his regenerating windpipes to 17 or more patients worldwide. When Macchiarini accused one of them, Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, of stealing his work in a grant application, Hamsten found him guilty. In their view, he was grossly misrepresenting his results and the health of his patients. A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. Dont yet have access? Gerdin determined that Macchiarini committed scientific misconduct, but leadership at the Karolinska Institute ignored the findings and cleared Macchiarini. Besides which, compassionate concerns dont override the basic principles of patient safety and informed consent. 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. 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. The plastic trachea that Yesim Cetir received disfigured her and made her last three years in life basically like torture, Bosse Lindquist, the documentarian behind the Swedish TV series The Experiment, told the Times. She would later discover that the woman in Barcelona had been living with Paolo for years, but that there were several other women in his life as well. (The patient who survived had the implant removed.). In 2017, after another hospital said everything possible had been tried, she felt desperate. New Jersey Also seduced by Macchiarini was former NBC News producer Benita Alexander, who met the surgeon in 2013 when she was working on A Leap of Faith, an NBC special about Macchiarini hosted by Meredith Vieira. How we can build a clean and renewable future. One of these is the hype surrounding stem cells. All but one died following severe complications with the implants. Keep up with your favorite shows delivered to your inbox! The charismatic Italian surgeon who designed it foresaw a future where hearts and lungs could be made from plastic, and organ donations became a thing of the past. Thousands of people in the United States alone develop trachea problems each year from burns, birth defects, tumors and extended intubation on ventilators. 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. And Murphy found that Macchiarinis claims about the wedding were almost all untrue and that the surgeon was married and had been for nearly 30 years. All three patients later died. 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." Its very exciting, said Dr. G. Alexander Patterson, a professor of surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the case. They reopened the case in 2020, this time charging Macchiarini on lesser counts of aggravated assault and severe bodily harm. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. Investigations by the hospital and the Karolinska Institute revealed that issues with Dr. Macchiarinis work had been covered up. Stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was accused of wrongdoing during operations on three people between 2011 and 2014. Ground-breaking work on synthetic organ transplants made Paolo Macchiarini one of the most famous doctors in the world. 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. 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. 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. Plus: A Chicago mother is arrested in connection to the murder of her 6-year-old son; the convicted killer Robert Durst dies at age 78; Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentencing date is set; and an LGBTQ+ rights movement hero is found dead in a Florida landfill. Any replacement trachea must be rigid or itll collapse like a straw in a McDonalds milkshake, Dr. Genden said. Emanuela Pecchia has been married to Paolo Macchiarini for over 30 years. Brave CF Around the same time, an article in Vanity Fair described how Macchiarini had misled a girlfriendan NBC news producer working on a flattering documentary about his surgeriesinto thinking they would be married in a ceremony attended by the Clintons and Obamas and officiated by the pope.