Transplant surgeon Paolo Macchiarini is the focus of a horrific 2023 Netflix miniseries Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife. The show explores the controversial work of the surgeon, who set out to revolutionize regenerative medicine in 2011 by implanting plastic windpipes in patients. However, his work and alleged research fell under extreme scrutiny, with claims of the procedures being dangerous and unnecessary, and in some cases resulting in death. He did prison time for his work, but where is Paolo Macchiarini now?
The article you are about to read will explore some of the details of the case, so if medical procedures disturb you, it may be best to avoid this feature.
In 2019 Paolo was sentenced to one year and four months in jail. The sentence was handed down by an Italian court. The charges included forging documents and abuse of office.
In September 2020, he was indicted on charges of aggravated assault in Sweden, which included three different operations that he had performed in 2011. By the spring of 2022, a trial would find him guilty of a single count of “causing bodily harm” but he would be cleared of two charges of assault.
The prosecution would push for a jail time of five years, but the judge would see things differently and state that he had not performed the surgeries with an intent to kill or harm those involved. It led to a lenient sentence, a suspended penalty, two years probation, and no restrictions on his license.
Paolo would escape jail, but the incredible case continues with Swedish authorities appealing the decision and claiming he was conducting human experiments.
It has been widely reported that the surgeon now lives in Spain, but with his reputation so badly affected, it is not confirmed if he is still working.
Swiss-born Italian Paolo Macchiarini was born in August 1958, and studied at the Medical School of the University of Pisa in Italy. It was there that he would achieve his degree in 1986, followed by his Master of Surgery qualification in 1991.
His further education in the field would move towards organ transplantation, and he would obtain a doctorate in the area leading to his research into regenerative medicine. His work would find him at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, a very prestigious institution notable as the professors are behind the selection of the winners of the Nobel Prize for medicine.
Paolo became a sensation when he pioneered his work in artificial windpipes, performing the operation on patients, and purporting a future where 3D printed organs would become the future in advancing the nature of organ transplants.
However, his claims, education, and personal life all became the focus of attention, revealing an incredible story behind the scenes.
Paolo Macchiarini displaying prosthetic tracheas | Image via Staffan Larsson/BBC
Paolo would perform the procedure that involved replacing a damaged trachea in patients with a plastic construct. The new implant would be saturated in the patient’s stem cells and the idea behind the procedure claimed that the patient’s own body would regenerate the damaged system.
However, despite the accolades he would receive for his work, there was something not quite right about the process and other professionals in the field began to question the technique.
Despite the pushback, Paolo would continue forward with his technique, and a damning report from one biomedical researcher would reveal that he had performed the operation a total of twenty times, in various institutes across the globe, and many of the recipients died after the treatment.
The death of one of the recipients of his technique led to the Karolinska University Hospital suspending Paolo Macchiarini from performing any more operations.
Incredibly, Paolo would continue the experimental technique in Russia, but his research would be further inspected and in June 2014, after another death of a patient, he was suspected of misconduct in research, with Karolinska University lodging misconduct reports.
Paolo would refute the claims, and the institute would push for an external investigation.
On May 13, 2015, Karolinska Institute’s external research party concluded that Paolo was guilty of misconduct in research, and his funding was cut.
Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini | Image via Benita Alexander/Investigation Discovery
Despite this, he would still be cleared of the charges against him, and it would take an article in Vanity Fair to throw shade at the surgeon’s life, including details of his proposal of marriage to NBC News producer Benita Alexander, who was making a documentary on the surgeon.
Benita was fooled into a relationship with Paolo, and the romance, relationship, and planned wedding were eventually canceled, with revelations that the man was already married, and was leading a bizarre double life.
The Vanity Fair article, a master class in journalism, would take a deep dive into all the claims made by Paolo, with some staggering results.
