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Karolinskas leadership expected big things from their superstar, things that would bring prestige and funding to the institute. Those few patients who are still alive including Castillo have survived in spite of the artificial windpipes they received. A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. Thats something that was new to us, so we need to analyze that, Lundstrm-Kron says. There Was Nothing Anybody Could Do for These Patients. Now There Is. Alexander started a problem with the specialist at this time. (LogOut/ In Macchiarinis case, the hope was that patients could be treated with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow. In place of clinical data, there are gushing testimonials. Claudia Castillo with Dr Paolo Macchiarini. In other countries, more of Macchiarinis patients died after receiving one of his artificial windpipes. Not only that, they later covered it up.. Only three are still alive as of September 2020. Its a problematic idea with unfortunate side effects. Back in New York, Benita found herself unable to stop thinking about Paolo's patients. They exchange their vows in Italy. COVID-19 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. 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. 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. Instead of stripping the cells from donor windpipes, Macchiarini had plastic scaffolds made to order. In this episode, eyewitnesses, officials, and some of Paolos victims thus reveal how they got conned by him, with his former lover television producer Benita Alexander at the front and center. In fact, the surgeon was still married to his wife of nearly 30 years. That meant the donor trachea was accompanied by a blood supply that Dr. Genden connected to Ms. Seins blood vessels. He is from Italy. 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. Stem cell clinics have sprung up like weeds, offering to treat just about any ailment you can name. They exchange their vows in Italy. Its enough to worry officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 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. 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. 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. Georgia How did the GameStop stock spike on Wall Street happen? When the blood vessels were finally connected, the donor trachea began bleeding. This went on for three years until, just recently, Grinnemo was cleared of all wrongdoing. Read More: Where is Benita Alexander Now? 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. She considered backing out. And difficult to jump off. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. Theres a void in his personality that he seems to want to fill by conning more and more people.. 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. By June 2013, when Paolo took Benita to Venice, Italy, for a romantic weekend, she knew she was falling madly in love. If the Pope was planning to marry two divorcees, surely it would be huge global news? Hes clearly bright and has accomplishments, but he cant contain himself. 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. 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. 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. Earliest evidence of horseback riding found in eastern cowboys, Funding woes force 500 Women Scientists to scale back operations, Lawmakers offer contrasting views on how to compete with China in science, U.K. scientists hope to regain access to EU grants after Northern Ireland deal, Astronomers stumble in diplomatic push to protect the night sky, Satellites spoiling more and more Hubble images, Pablo Neruda was poisoned to death, a new forensic report suggests, Europes well-preserved bog bodies surrender their secrets, Teens leukemia goes into remission after experimental gene-editing therapy, Disgraced stem cell surgeon convicted of criminal harm, Disgraced surgeon is still publishing on stem cell therapies, Six papers by disgraced surgeon should be retracted, report concludes, Former star surgeon's disgrace rocks Swedish science. They didnt even seek the approval of Stockholms ethical review board, which is based at Karolinska. Paolo then came across Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, a man from Eritrea who was training to be a doctor when he got diagnosed with cancer. 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. In the They allowed Macchiarini to continue his work as a visiting professor with a research lab. Dr. Genden examines the new trachea by inserting a scope in a hole he left in her neck, which hell eventually close. In the months and years following their respective surgeries, all of them except Dmitri Onogda have passed away due to post-operative complications. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. (The patient who survived had the implant removed.). Benita Alexander thought that she was living a real-life fairy tale when she met her fianc, Paolo Macchiarini. WebPaolo Macchiarini Net Worth. 2023 Warner Bros. Team Lakay 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Apparently, her graft detached soon after, causing an infection, and because of difficulties in breathing, she had to be admitted into emergency a total of 13 times. Her friends described him as "Mr. Big" from Sex and the City. I have to expose him.". But because Macchiarini is apparently living in Spain, its unlikely to have much effect. The couple has been married for 30 years now. I had a brave face, but I was scared, Ms. Sein said. Macchiarini told people that Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Vladimir Putin would attend the wedding, Andrea Bocelli would perform, and Pope Francis (a patient of his, or so he said) would officiate the ceremony, per Vanity Fair. And investigations by both institute and the hospital found coverups regarding Macchiarinis work. Gerdin says the conviction on one count still shows that health care doesnt stand above the law. His operation was on June 9, 2011, at the Karolinska University Hospital, where he received the upgraded plastic trachea made at University College London. 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. After being dismissed from the institute, he worked at the Kazan Federal University in Kazan, Russia. Unfortunately, the scandal is much bigger than Karolinska, which accounts for only three of the patients who have received Macchiarinis regenerating windpipes. After several weeks in recovery, she is home. In such dire circumstances, new treatments can be tried as a last resort. New York Brazilian MMA fighters In June 2016, the public prosecutor's office began investigating Paolo on suspicion of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm based on the material leading to the deaths of the three patients operated on in Sweden. Paolo Macchiarini is a thoracic surgeon. Photographs document Ms. Seins trachea transformation: Her old windpipe looks raw and red, her new one smooth as porcelain. 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. Support for Macchiarini remained strong, even as his patients began to die. Washington 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. Swedish television broadcast a three-part expos of Paolo's work called Experimenten, which argued that the artificial windpipes did more harm than good and were actually rotting away inside his patients' bodies. If the sins of Karolinska have been committed elsewhere, it is partly because medical research facilities share a common milieu, which harbours common dangers. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Source: ABC Article continues below advertisement His relationship with Benita, But some of Alexander's friends began to become suspicious. Abu Dhabi Paolo Macchiarinis income source is mostly from being a successful . The next morning, with the donor and Ms. Sein in adjacent rooms, a team of over 50 medical personnel assembled. The vice-chancellor, Anders Hamsten, resigned. There he reinvented his technique. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? 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.. North Carolina I dont want to live like this, she concluded. Nevada The 18-hour procedure, conceived and led by Dr. Eric M. Genden Sr., chairman of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, is a milestone because unlike kidneys, hearts and lungs the trachea has defied decades of transplantation attempts. 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. Countless news stories declared it a medical breakthrough. The operations were hailed at the time as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine, although some observers remained skeptical. Largely confined to her Bronx apartment, she needed home health aides and had to quit her career as a social worker for pregnant women. "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. Bangkok The court heard testimony in the case between 27 April and 12 May. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 2013. Despite having a wife and a family, Paolo was in a public affair with the internet star Benita Alexandra. Guided by a high-powered microscope, he used surgical thread half the diameter of a human hair. 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 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. 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. 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 court said the penalty was a suspended sentence, but did not specify how long the sentence would be if imposed. Eduard Folayang 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. 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. 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. Brazil The felony conviction means Macchiarini would have a hard time finding employment again in Sweden, Gerdin says. This is how NBCs Meredith Vieira put it in her documentary about Macchiarini, appropriately called A Leap of Faith: Just imagine a world where any injured or diseased organ or body part you have is simply replaced by a new artificial one, literally manmade in the lab, just for you. This marvelous world was now within reach, thanks to Macchiarini. Philippines Ive never in my experience witnessed a fraud like this, with this level of international flair, Murphy told Vanity Fair. 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. But the vice-chancellor of Karolinska Institute, Anders Hamsten, wasnt bound by this judgement. Scientific pioneer, superstar surgeon, miracle worker thats how Paolo Macchiarini was known for several years. All rights reserved. But, we now know that the success of this operation was a lie, and the complications she suffered because of it were kept under wraps for a really long time. A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6600. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. With Macchiarinis exploits endorsed by management and breathlessly reported in the media, it was all too easy to jump on that bandwagon. Miss Universe 2021 They also questioned whether Macchiarini had obtained proper ethical permission for the surgeries and challenged a paper describing animal experiments with the technique. February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini.