The pope, the palace, the world leaders, the famous tenor they were all fantasies. 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. 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. For Ms. Sein, the procedure was a long-sought dream. 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. In April 2017, the university terminated his project. It relieved a little bit of burden from him.. Subscribe to News from Science for full access to breaking news and analysis on research and science policy. WebPaolo Macchiarini Net Worth. 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In the China Kevin Belingon Thousands of people in the United States alone develop trachea problems each year from burns, birth defects, tumors and extended intubation on ventilators. There are people who go to jail for 5 years for not paying their taxes. It won Dr. Macchiarini international news coverage and cemented his place as a celebrity scientist. Team Lakay 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. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. Philippines Paolo Macchiarini is a thoracic surgeon. You can see this in the speed with which his breakthroughs were accepted. Delaere feels the sentence is too light for what he considers a serious crime. (LogOut/ Only four months after Macchiarini operated on Claudia Castillo, his results provisional but very positive were published online by the Lancet. His operation was on June 9, 2011, at the Karolinska University Hospital, where he received the upgraded plastic trachea made at University College London. Talking about her spouse Paolo, he became infamous for research fraud and manipulative behavior. Ohio Border crisis: Whats happening at the US-Mexico border? 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. They didnt. The mild sentence comes as a disappointment to Macchiarinis critics. 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. The scandal meant theres an amazing amount of scrutiny, he said. How climate change and forest management make wildfires harder to contain, Disparity in police response: Black Lives Matter protests and Capitol riot. And it needs a blood supply to connect to the patients vascular system. 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.. On Friday Mr. Hurtig declined to comment on Paolos private affairs.. 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. Paolo Macchiarini, in a 2013 photo, implanted synthetic windpipes into multiple patients; all but one died following complications with the implants. Although the difference in his birthplace, he is known to be an Italian by his nationality. 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. The couple has been married for 30 years now. Emanuela Pecchia: Everything We Know 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. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm His lawyer did not respond to emails from Science today. 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. The couple had traveled a lot, but there were some things The theory was simple: let the body do most of the work. In addition to his partner of over 30 years, he also had a special next woman. 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. Benita decided to get in touch with private investigator Frank Murphy. Illinois The apparent success of Ms. Seins operation is also notable because the trachea field has been rocked for years by a sensational scandal. Gerdin determined that Macchiarini committed scientific misconduct, but leadership at the Karolinska Institute ignored the findings and cleared Macchiarini. 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. As for Keziah Shorten, who suffered from trachea cancer, Paolo Macchiarini did a transplant on her on July 13, 2010, which failed the very next year. What Is Benita Alexander Doing Now? She Was Conned 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. Born in 1984, Zhadyra Iglikova suffered from tracheostomy following a car accident. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Nevada 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 A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6600. We have, for example, a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. Paolo Macchiarini The story portrayed Macchiarini, who was already married at the time, as a serial fabulist who exaggerated or lied about degrees, academic appointments, and In 2011, Dr. Macchiarini, a renowned leader in the field of regenerative medicine, took the medical world by storm when he built and implanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe. There he reinvented his technique. Its enough to worry officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That was a very smart idea to help maintain the fragile blood supply of the airway by leaving the esophagus in place behind it, Dr. Patterson said. 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. Dr. Genden also transplanted the cricoid, cartilage cuffing the trachea, supplanting Ms. Seins completely destroyed cricoid. 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. In their view, he was grossly misrepresenting his results and the health of his patients. Largely confined to her Bronx apartment, she needed home health aides and had to quit her career as a social worker for pregnant women. 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. There Was Nothing Anybody Could Do for These Patients. Now There Is. Why are people hesitant to trust a COVID-19 vaccine? 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. She says she feels she has been given a chance of being alive one more time.. Look out for a message in your inbox in. Massachusetts Paolo Macchiarinis most notable patient is Claudia Castillo. At first, they just connected as friends. But owing to her cancer returning and the formation of a fistula, she too passed away. New Jersey The verdict is the latest development in Macchiarinis stunning fall from grace. But, he added, Its an indirect technique. It takes time and can replace only the tracheas halfpipe side, so its not a complete tube.. 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. Selena died in a hospital due to a loss of blood and cardiac arrest, two weeks before her 24th birthday. Remembering George Floyd: A year of protest. But hes lost his reputation, and thats more important.. 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. Next month, she will turn 57. The couple set a date: July 11, 2015. They exchange their vows in Italy. Only three are still alive as of September 2020. 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. Photographs document Ms. Seins trachea transformation: Her old windpipe looks raw and red, her new one smooth as porcelain. She had already spent $10,000 on engraved invitations made for a guest list that included the Obamas, the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, and Elton John. A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. 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. This was the start of a whirlwind romance that included five-star hotels, travel to far-flung locations, and extravagant shopping sprees. 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. 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. We will send you a maximum of two emails in, We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. He is still licensed to practice medicine in Europe. This argument didnt wash with those who later investigated the case. Macchiarinis fall was swift, but troubling questions remain about why he was allowed to continue his experiments for so long. With Macchiarinis exploits endorsed by management and breathlessly reported in the media, it was all too easy to jump on that bandwagon. 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. 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. ONE Championship 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. According to hospital staff, she had roughly 40 near-death experiences during this time, the judgment said. However, he eventually found out about his previous associations. The donor was a young man (identifying details are being withheld to protect privacy). February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini. He is from Italy. Emanuela Pecchia has been married to Paolo Macchiarini for over 30 years. Macchiarini has consistently claimed he is innocent. The Karolinska Institute was seduced by Macchiarini, said Dr. Gerdin. Please make a tax-deductible gift today. 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. This went on for three years until, just recently, Grinnemo was cleared of all wrongdoing. How a star surgeon's personal and professional lives converged In September 2020, Swedish prosecutors announced charges against him for aggravated assault in connection to three surgeries that he had performed at the. Last year, however, the dream soured, exposing an ugly reality. Therefore, on June 12, 2008, at Hospital Clinic Barcelona, she received a cadaver trachea graft implanted as a bronchus transplant. By this year, Dr. Genden said, her condition had deteriorated so that if we delay further, its not going to work out.. Alexander said that Macchiarini told her he was still married to his wife because they were Catholic but were separated. Colleagues accused him of manipulating his results, even warning of the harm caused by these so-called regenerative windpipes. Macchiarini, meanwhile, said he did not accept the findings of the disciplinary board. Karolinskas leadership expected big things from their superstar, things that would bring prestige and funding to the institute. 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"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. 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. I Googled trachea transplant and Dr. Genden popped up. Sonia Sein, outside her Bronx home, had irreparable damage to her trachea. Her friends described him as "Mr. Big" from Sex and the City. 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. The other patients were treated at hospitals in Barcelona, Florence, London, Moscow, Krasnodar, Chicago and Peoria. Filipino MMA fighters 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. As Selena ran from the room, Yolanda Saldivar shot her in the back. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. Reports of their success always seemed like hot air to him. A High-Flying Italian Surgeons Fall From Grace, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/world/europe/macchiarini-windpipe-surgeon-deaths.html. Brave CF 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. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. 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.. To some extent, they believed Macchiarini because he told them what they wanted to hear. Likewise the whole idea of a wedding: Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 30 years. But Benita stood by her man and, she said, tried to help him through a tough time. KI commissioned surgeon Bengt Gerdin, a professor emeritus at Uppsala University, to investigate the issue. 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. This was Macchiarinis first big success. The popular press also has a lot to answer for. In such dire circumstances, new treatments can be tried as a last resort. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini [Investigation Discovery]. However, the serious complications that Castillo suffered were, for a long time, kept very quiet. Thereafter it was all over the news. Support for Macchiarini remained strong, even as his patients began to die. Texas Does the heat of stem cell research the high levels of funding, prestige and media coverage it enjoys somehow encourage fraud? Paolo Macchiarini Benita said that, if she can take any lessons away from what happened to her, she hopes that her experience will help others. There was another reason to be daunted too: historical assumptions that tracheas werent transplantable. Paolo Macchiarini at a press conference in 2008. What comes next after Texas school shooting? She told CrimeFeed that, looking back, it seemed odd to her she had not met many of Paolo's close friends in Barcelona. We now know that wasnt true. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini became a star by creating a bioartificial windpipe. Jakarta There is South Koreas Hwang Woo-suk who, in 2004, falsely claimed to have created the first human embryonic stem cells by means of cloning. Experts say this case is about what the definition of a resident is under Spanish law. Paolo Macchiarini: Surgeon convicted for fatal Swedish - BBC As Grinnemo recalls, it nearly destroyed his career: I didnt receive any new grants. The Karolinska University Hospital suspended Dr. Macchiarinis contract as a surgeon in 2013, but the affiliated Karolinska Institute kept him on until 2016 even as the scandal over his work spread, according to a timeline on the institutes website. 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. In his case, his stem cells were seeded into the airway just hours before it was implanted into him, making it work perfectly fine. February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini. 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. It is fitting that Macchiarinis career unravelled at the Karolinska Institute. 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. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 2013. But as the big day approached, Alexander saw these plans unravel, and finally realised that her lover had lied about almost everything. Theres a void in his personality that he seems to want to fill by conning more and more people.. Claudia Castillo with Dr Paolo Macchiarini. He understood how difficult her life had become. 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. Besides which, compassionate concerns dont override the basic principles of patient safety and informed consent. Even so, it wasnt until 2016 that the Karolinska Institute declined to renew his contract. Las Vegas Sadly, she passed away soon after her second implant. One of these is the hype surrounding stem cells. In part, this is because the field of windpipe repair is a niche area. Instead, they found him guilty of negligence and the lesser charge of causing bodily harm. Georgia Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. (The big exception is blood stem cell transplantation, which has been saving the lives of people with leukemia and other cancers of the blood for decades.). Paolo was in the house, but he was not alone after Benita's friends were asked to leave, they noticed a blonde woman coming out of the house, with two young children. Sonia Sein, outside her Bronx home, had irreparable damage to her trachea.