In the case of Cetir, he should have known the risk of complications was higher than the expected benefit, the judges ruled. So, as per the last reports, he is alive and well today. The verdict is the latest development in Macchiarinis stunning fall from grace. BRAVE Combat Federation His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Paolo Macchiarinis most notable patient is Claudia Castillo. Nevada The trachea has been characterized as a simple tube, but its very complex, Dr. Delaere said. Ms. Seins trachea before, left, and her new transplanted trachea. The case is pending. 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. WebIn reality, Paolo had not worked with the Pope, and he was still married to his wife of 30 years. The surgeons defense attorney, Bjrn Hurtig, said his client was considering an appeal. I didnt want the fairy tale to end., Alexander also hired a private investigator, a former Pennsylvania State Police detective named Frank Murphy. Please try again later. Thereafter it was all over the news. I had a brave face, but I was scared, Ms. Sein said. 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. 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. 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.. Macchiarini, they claimed, wasnt really doing clinical research. "If I made a checklist of what I wanted a man to be, he had everything.". 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. In early 2014, four Karolinska doctors defied the reigning culture of silence by complaining about Macchiarini. Those few patients who are still alive including Castillo have survived in spite of the artificial windpipes they received. Paolo Macchiarini: Surgeon convicted for fatal Swedish - BBC Virginia 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 But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. 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. An alarmingly wide gap has grown between what we expect from stem cells and what they deliver. He says prosecutors should have pressed for manslaughter charges because Macchiarini had no evidence that the tracheas he implanted would develop into normally functioning organs. They reopened the case in 2020, this time charging Macchiarini on lesser counts of aggravated assault and severe bodily harm. In 2013, the hospital halted future operations with synthetic trachea and opted to not extend Macchiarinis contract. Dr. Genden said some scientists told him Youre out of your mind because trying a transplant would risk his reputation. Paolo Macchiarini, in a 2013 photo, implanted synthetic windpipes into multiple patients; all but one died following complications with the implants. As per Abu Dhabi She told CrimeFeed that, looking back, it seemed odd to her she had not met many of Paolo's close friends in Barcelona. Benita Alexander on attending Paolo Macchiarinis criminal trial in Sweden Alexander said she attended Macchiarini's trial for closure, seven years after she was Photographs document Ms. Seins trachea transformation: Her old windpipe looks raw and red, her new one smooth as porcelain. 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. 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. Talking about her spouse Paolo, he became infamous for research fraud and manipulative behavior. Likewise the whole idea of a wedding: Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 30 years. 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. 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. Donald Trump 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. As it was built from Claudias own cells, she didnt need to be on any risky immunosuppressant drugs. February 28, 2022 Emanuela Pecchia is famously known as the wife of popular Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini. There was another reason to be daunted too: historical assumptions that tracheas werent transplantable. Disgraced Italian surgeon convicted of criminal harm to stem cell patient. Paolo Macchiarini is a thoracic surgeon. 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. 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. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini became a star by creating a bioartificial windpipe. 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. By June 2013, when Paolo took Benita to Venice, Italy, for a romantic weekend, she knew she was falling madly in love. Team Lakay Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. And investigations by both institute and the hospital found coverups regarding Macchiarinis work. Alexander admits that, at the time, she was in a vulnerable place. Each new scientific discovery brings a flood of stories about how it will revolutionise medicine one day soon. Singapore Sonia Sein, outside her Bronx home, had irreparable damage to her trachea. When the blood vessels were finally connected, the donor trachea began bleeding. The couple had traveled a lot, but there were some things In 2018, KI finally released the findings of its second investigation, which confirmed he had committed misconduct. One was a 2-year-old girl named Hannah Warren, on whom hed operated in Peoria, IL, in 2013, according to Vanity Fair. The maximum prison sentence for causing bodily harm is 4 years. 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. On Friday Mr. Hurtig declined to comment on Paolos private affairs.. 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? In such dire circumstances, new treatments can be tried as a last resort. It is thus likely she has since passed away. They and their loved ones fall victim to false hope. At first, they just connected as friends. TikToker Says Her Celebrity Surgeon Ex Conned Her Out of $50K All rights reserved. It sounded unbelievable, but Paolo explained to her that he had treated Pope John Paul II in the past, and had become part of a highly classified group of doctors that treated the global elite. A 19-year-old Iowa college student allegedly defrauded over 400 donors after raising more than $37,000 by faking a triple cancer diagnosis. Even the jewelry he had given her was fake. Investigations by the hospital and the Karolinska Institute revealed that issues with Dr. Macchiarinis work had been covered up. 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. Who Were Paolo Macchiarinis Victims? - The Cinemaholic She soon went into full-on investigative journalist mode, and learned that Paolo had, yup lied about everything. All rights reserved. Macchiarinis fall was swift, but troubling questions remain about why he was allowed to continue his experiments for so long. A review of public records in Italy found that Paolo was never divorced from Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. If as a doctor you do stupid things, then you can be charged. But the not-guilty verdicts on the other two cases highlight how the law can leave vulnerable people unprotected, he says, for example when they are facing life-and-death decisions and holding less information than their doctor. Likewise the whole idea of a wedding: Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 30 years. As Selena ran from the room, Yolanda Saldivar shot her in the back. Most, including Andemariam Beyene, are now dead. Unfortunately, though, she reportedly succumbed to her underlying disease in January of 2012. KI officials let him do this. Delaeres damning criticisms appeared in major medical journals, including the Lancet, but werent taken seriously by Karolinskas leadership. So did Karolinskas dean of research. They recently published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine admitting that stem cell research has mostly failed to live up to its therapeutic promise. 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. 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. You can see this in the speed with which his breakthroughs were accepted. Read More: Where is Benita Alexander Now? A surgeon who just a decade ago was celebrated around the globe as a pioneer in stem cell transplants has been convicted of one count of causing bodily harm, a felony, in a Swedish court. There Was Nothing Anybody Could Do for These Patients. Now There Is. The idea is that scientific progress is driven by the genius of a few. But according to reports, Paolo cheated on his Emanuela Pecchia. Any woman would swoon for such a catch! Florida Alexander started a problem with the specialist at this time. But even if his days had been numbered, this didnt necessarily justify what Macchiarini put him through. 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. 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. I cant do this anymore, Sonia Sein told herself, her family and her doctor. Source: ABC Article continues below advertisement His relationship with Benita, The first person to receive one of these was Andemariam Beyene, an Eritrean doctoral student in geology at the University of Iceland. WebPaolo Macchiarini Net Worth. I Googled trachea transplant and Dr. Genden popped up. Or rather, his celebrity status helped him do so. But it was already too late. He convinced the Karolinska Institute that this could make them famous, and they just let him do it. Hwang, Obokata and Macchiarini were all attracted to the hottest regions of stem cell research, where hope for a medical breakthrough was greatest. Anyone can read what you share. Los Angeles Georgia Pennsylvania It would be a star-studded event. 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. She says it may mean the judges thought he and the patients believed time was short and options were few. Euan Ward reported from London, and Christina Anderson from Bastad, Sweden. Thailand According to hospital staff, she had roughly 40 near-death experiences during this time, the judgment said. 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.. 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. Records show that even with his implant failing, Andemariam was able to complete his Ph.D. before his demise in January 2013. Over the years, this possibility has generated great excitement and a huge amount of research. Vanity Fair also later discovered that several of Paolo's other statements were false, including his claims about having been an associate professor at the University of Pisa. Next month, she will turn 57. 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. This was Macchiarinis first big success. She considered backing out. 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. Emanuela Pecchia Everything We Know On Paolo Macchiarini 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. Does the heat of stem cell research the high levels of funding, prestige and media coverage it enjoys somehow encourage fraud? Nearly all of those patients have died. Benita Alexander with one of the custom-made gowns intended for her wedding [Investigation Discovery]. Its actually meaningless for him, Gerdin says. When Macchiarini accused one of them, Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, of stealing his work in a grant application, Hamsten found him guilty. Dressed in a white lab coat or in surgical scrubs, with his broad, handsome face and easy charm, he certainly looked the part. Previously considered a pioneer for using both biological and synthetic scaffolds New York City Not only that, they later covered it up.. As the home of the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, one of its ambitions is to create scientific celebrities. 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. The different gender was important, allowing Dr. Genden to use chromosomal analysis to detect whether Ms. Seins cells populated the new trachea. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Paolo Macchiarini was amazingly accomplished, stunningly successful, and fabulously rich. From Confines Of Russia, Controversial Stem-Cell Surgeon Thats what our experience of medical research leads us to suspect. Your tax-deductible contribution plays a critical role in sustaining this effort. Benita Alexander had no way of knowing that, by the end of her love story, her heart would be broken and many of Paolos patients who received the miracle transplants would be dead. 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 operation, performed at one of the worlds most prestigious medical universities, part of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was hailed as revolutionary. 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. "I have to tell people. Were going to show up and say, As a student, I had this idea on the back of a napkin and now were ready to go and if it fails, the patient dies and it becomes yet another example of some surgeon who thought he could solve a problem and hes created, instead, just the opposite.. 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. Death for Season 2 at Peacock, From 'Truth About Pam' to 'Candy,' True-Crime EPs Tell the Truth (VIDEO). They shared a happy relationship. Ive never in my experience witnessed a fraud like this, with this level of international flair, Murphy told Vanity Fair. She has since had the synthetic trachea removed. The felony conviction means Macchiarini would have a hard time finding employment again in Sweden, Gerdin says. Alexander said that Macchiarini told her he was still married to his wife because they were Catholic but were separated. 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. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 2013. The other patients were treated at hospitals in Barcelona, Florence, London, Moscow, Krasnodar, Chicago and Peoria. 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. 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. Besides which, compassionate concerns dont override the basic principles of patient safety and informed consent. 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Its like when you get on a rocket ship., At times, he felt in a dreamlike state, he said. But the judges decided that, because the initial prognoses for Andemariam and Lyles were so grim without surgery, Macchiarini could not be held criminally responsible in those cases. 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Death season three hopes telling her story will protect On May 13, Alexander left her job. A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6600. 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. Journals retracted several of his studies. I thought, If they do a transplant for everything, they should do a transplant for trachea, she recalled. 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. You start to panic because you cant breathe., By early 2020, ethical approvals were in place, but the coronavirus pandemic held things up. Almost overnight, he became a superstar. The next morning, with the donor and Ms. Sein in adjacent rooms, a team of over 50 medical personnel assembled. This was the start of a whirlwind romance that included five-star hotels, travel to far-flung locations, and extravagant shopping sprees. The grant ended in spring 2017. The Karolinska Institute was seduced by Macchiarini, Gerdin told the newspaper. Meanwhile, Macchiarinis career soared. Paolo Macchiarini rode groundbreaking surgeries to global fame, but patients died anyway. The coronavirus pandemic will most likely create more cases because many Covid-19 patients have needed weeks on ventilators. She was wearing a blonde wig, and her nervous laughter is audible on the video they shot. It showed department heads and colleagues that they should give Macchiarini special treatment.He could do pretty much as he pleased. Metro He could see no real evidence that the windpipe scaffolds were becoming living, functioning airways in which case, they were destined to fail. She received another implant at the University College Hospital in London in 2011, after which she was able to be discharged. 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. He officially cleared Macchiarini of scientific misconduct, allowing merely that hed sometimes acted without due care. A good example is the NBC documentary A Leap of Faith. 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. 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. The mild sentence comes as a disappointment to Macchiarinis critics. 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. Now they were on the wedding guest list: the Obamas, the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Sarkozy and other world leaders. Few people at Karolinska, especially among those in power, knew enough about it to appreciate Delaeres claims. Subscribe to News from Science for full access to breaking news and analysis on research and science policy. Get more great content like this delivered right to you! Michigan Paolo Macchiarini, Star Surgeon, Loses Court Ruling in Sweden Acquittal is therefore difficult to defend., But Gerdin says the verdict is not unexpected. The court said the penalty was a suspended sentence, but did not specify how long the sentence would be if imposed. Tokyo The answer came only a couple of weeks later, when Swedish television began broadcasting a three-part expos of Macchiarini and his work. China In January 2016, Macchiarini received an extraordinary double dose of bad press. He is from Italy. 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. The only question was how long it would take weeks, months or a few years. I have to expose him.". 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. 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 clinics have sprung up like weeds, offering to treat just about any ailment you can name. Benita Alexander Before their wedding, the After being dismissed from the institute, he worked at the Kazan Federal University in Kazan, Russia. We would have been planning my funeral, she said, but now were planning a birthday party.. Tennessee He took the medical world by storm when he built and transplanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe two years earlier. Experts say this case is about what the definition of a resident is under Spanish law. Born in 1977, this Colombian living in Spain woman suffered from tuberculosis-damaged airways.