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 manipulative behavior. The transplants, performed on patients from the United States and other countries, were heralded as inaugurating a regenerative medicine revolution. 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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. Its a problematic idea with unfortunate side effects. None other than Pope Francis would officiate, and his papal palace in Castel Gandolfo would serve as the venue. The fact that he could keep all the details straight and compartmentalize these different lives and lies is really amazing.. Although all three patients eventually died, Dr. Macchiarini was not directly accused of killing 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. Macchiarinis deceit was so outlandish, Vanity Fair sought the opinion of the Harvard professor Ronald Schouten, an expert on psychopaths, who gave this diagnosis-at-a-distance: Macchiarini is the extreme form of a con man. You start to panic because you cant breathe., By early 2020, ethical approvals were in place, but the coronavirus pandemic held things up. Anyone can read what you share. Despite having a wife and a family, Paolo was in a public affair with the internet star Benita Alexandra. They should be. In the Recently, Ms. Sein, covering the hole with her hand to speak, enthused about having the energy to cook sesame chicken for the first time and how she aims to visit relatives in Puerto Rico. Called Experimenten (The Experiments), it argued convincingly that Macchiarinis artificial windpipes were not the life-saving wonders wed all been led to believe. Macchiarini had often boasted to Alexander of his famous friends. Countless news stories declared it a medical breakthrough. 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. Andrea Bocelli was to sing at the ceremony. 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Theres a void in his personality that he seems to want to fill by conning more and more people.. It won Dr. Macchiarini international news coverage and cemented his place as a celebrity scientist. Virginia This guy mutilated people., Between 2011 and 2014, Macchiarini implanted artificial windpipes in at least eight patients in Sweden, the United States, and Russia. Alexander admits that, at the time, she was in a vulnerable place. None of these institutions have faced the same kind of public scrutiny. Its love of human interest stories makes it sympathetic to unproven therapies. 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. 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. So, how much is Paolo Macchiarini worth at the age of 64 years old? He could see no real evidence that the windpipe scaffolds were becoming living, functioning airways in which case, they were destined to fail. For six years, she had endured a tube inserted in her windpipe, or trachea, to keep her alive, but her discomfort and distress were becoming more and more unbearable. Last year, however, the dream soured, exposing an ugly reality. She became close to Paolo as she opened her heart to him about how hard it was for her daughter, then nine years old, to lose her father. But after Alexander learned that Pope Francis was scheduled to visit South America at the time of their wedding, she confronted Macchiarini about his claims. After realizing other treatment methods wouldnt help, he concluded that Ms. Sein had a logical, thoughtful grasp of transplantations risks and of her health condition. Over the years, this possibility has generated great excitement and a huge amount of research. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. One of these is the hype surrounding stem cells. An alarmingly wide gap has grown between what we expect from stem cells and what they deliver. The only question was how long it would take weeks, months or a few years. 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. Paolo grew close to Alexander's daughter [Investigation Discovery], He was incredibly charming, worldly smart, sophisticated, and seemed very gentle," Benita told CrimeFeed. Because immunosuppressant drugs are required to prevent rejection of the transplant, cancer patients would be eligible only if free of cancer for five years, Dr. Genden said. Paolo Macchiarini at a press conference in 2008. 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. Dr. Genden examines the new trachea by inserting a scope in a hole he left in her neck, which hell eventually close. 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. They didnt even seek the approval of Stockholms ethical review board, which is based at Karolinska. In the first couple of years at Karolinska, he put plastic airways into three patients. I cant do this anymore, Sonia Sein told herself, her family and her doctor. 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. He opened and cleaned out the donors esophagus, laying it against Ms. Seins esophagus. The maximum prison sentence for causing bodily harm is 4 years. Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini was hailed for turning the dream of regenerative medicine into a reality until he was exposed as a con artist and false prophet. Los Angeles 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. Macchiarinis fame had won him well-placed backers. But hes lost his reputation, and thats more important.. The different gender was important, allowing Dr. Genden to use chromosomal analysis to detect whether Ms. Seins cells populated the new trachea. But of 20 patients, including children, most ultimately died, and scientists said Dr. Macchiarini misrepresented data and exaggerated his techniques effectiveness. Dr. Genden also transplanted the cricoid, cartilage cuffing the trachea, supplanting Ms. Seins completely destroyed cricoid. Here are 13 more things about him: He married Pecchia in 1986. Stem cell research is a hot field of science and, according to statistics, also a rather scandal-prone one. I could feel it in my lungs.. The next morning, with the donor and Ms. Sein in adjacent rooms, a team of over 50 medical personnel assembled. Paolo Macchiarini is a thoracic surgeon. Thousands of people in the United States alone develop trachea problems each year from burns, birth defects, tumors and extended intubation on ventilators. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm Dont yet have access? Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Death for Season 2 at Peacock, From 'Truth About Pam' to 'Candy,' True-Crime EPs Tell the Truth (VIDEO). If the sins of Karolinska have been committed elsewhere, it is partly because medical research facilities share a common milieu, which harbours common dangers. Only four months after Macchiarini operated on Claudia Castillo, his results provisional but very positive were published online by the Lancet. By this year, Dr. Genden said, her condition had deteriorated so that if we delay further, its not going to work out.. Besides which, compassionate concerns dont override the basic principles of patient safety and informed consent. Paolo Macchiarini, in a 2013 photo, implanted synthetic windpipes into multiple patients; all but one died following complications with the implants. But the vice-chancellor of Karolinska Institute, Anders Hamsten, wasnt bound by this judgement. He was handsome, suave, and a charmer. Team Lakay 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. In 2016, Vanity Fair published an expose on Paolo that uncovered even more damning evidence. Today, Ms. Sein, 56, dances and plays tag with her grandchildren and plans to resume working, possibly as an acupuncturist. Instead of stripping the cells from donor windpipes, Macchiarini had plastic scaffolds made to order. She considered backing out. Acquittal is therefore difficult to defend., But Gerdin says the verdict is not unexpected. COVID-19 Sadly, she passed away soon after her second implant. Thereafter it was all over the news. Abu Dhabi Its enough to worry officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 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. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini in Venice, Italy [Investigation Discovery]. Subscribe to News from Science for full access to breaking news and analysis on research and science policy. To some extent, they believed Macchiarini because he told them what they wanted to hear. Born in 1977, this Colombian living in Spain woman suffered from tuberculosis-damaged airways. Paolo Macchiarini rode groundbreaking surgeries to global fame, but patients died anyway. Scientific pioneer, superstar surgeon, miracle worker thats how Paolo Macchiarini was known for several years. Four of Macchiarinis colleagues at KI, including Corbascio, filed official complaints in 2014 charging that several papers describing the surgeries deliberately left out serious complications in the patients. 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 The Karolinska Institute was seduced by Macchiarini, Gerdin told the newspaper. Probationwtf.he killed people knowing damn well that his trachea was bs! The first was a Vanity Fair article about his affair with Benita Alexander, an award-winning producer for NBC News. They allowed Macchiarini to continue his work as a visiting professor with a research lab. Guided by a high-powered microscope, he used surgical thread half the diameter of a human hair. In his case, his stem cells were seeded into the airway just hours before it was implanted into him, making it work perfectly fine. They also cited a loophole known as compassionate use. This went on for three years until, just recently, Grinnemo was cleared of all wrongdoing. But as time went on, she could not resist her connection to the dashing surgeon and she violated the number one rule of journalism: Never get involved with a person you're reporting on. Death Season 2, Mandy Moore Joins Dr. And then there are the surgeons on Dr. Death. Philippines They shared a happy relationship. 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. And it needs a blood supply to connect to the patients vascular system. In addition to his partner of over 30 years, he also had a special next woman. In fact, the surgeon was still married to his wife of nearly 30 years. Macchiarini was turning the dream of regenerative medicine into a reality. 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. 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. He hopes the immunosuppressant drugs, which can create health risks, can be reduced or even stopped if the entire graft becomes filled with Sonias cells.. Though Macchiarini was in the public eye, he was able to sidestep the usual rules and regulations. 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. 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. 2023 Warner Bros. I Googled trachea transplant and Dr. Genden popped up. 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. So in 2010, Paolo operated on her at the National Research Center of Surgery in Moscow. 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. At the time, Macchiarini was employed by the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He traveled to Illinois to operate on a Korean toddler who was born without a trachea and who was going to be the youngest person to ever receive an artificial one. 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. Its kind of a marginal substitute, and many patients need further interventions to maintain their airways.. All three patients later died. The idea is that scientific progress is driven by the genius of a few. 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. Filipino MMA fighters Euan Ward reported from London, and Christina Anderson from Bastad, Sweden. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. 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. Miss Universe 2021 The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for defrauding the elderly. 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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. The story portrayed Macchiarini, who was already married at the time, as a serial fabulist who exaggerated or lied about degrees, academic appointments, and personal accomplishments. Claudia Castillo with Dr Paolo Macchiarini. ONE Championship Unfortunately, though, she reportedly succumbed to her underlying disease in January of 2012. Selena died in a hospital due to a loss of blood and cardiac arrest, two weeks before her 24th birthday. From that moment on, she made a proposal to Paolo Macchiarini, and Dateline planned to publish the story. 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Gerdin determined that Macchiarini committed scientific misconduct, but leadership at the Karolinska Institute ignored the findings and cleared Macchiarini. Each new scientific discovery brings a flood of stories about how it will revolutionise medicine one day soon. Allegations also emerged that the risky procedure was performed on at least one person who was not critically ill at the time. 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.. Delaere was one of the earliest and harshest critics of Macchiarinis engineered airways. Unfortunately, the scandal is much bigger than Karolinska, which accounts for only three of the patients who have received Macchiarinis regenerating windpipes. He is from Italy. She spent more than three years in intensive care and endured 200 surgical procedures, theTimes reports. Jakarta But as the big day approached, Alexander saw these plans unravel, and finally realised that her lover had lied about almost everything. 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. I had a brave face, but I was scared, Ms. Sein said. 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. Benita Alexander thought that she was living a real-life fairy tale when she met her fianc, Paolo Macchiarini. Paolo was a world-renowned surgeon who spoke six languages, mingled with the global elite, and resembled George Clooney. Any woman would swoon for such a catch! This organ was prepared without the knowledge of authorities in a veterinary lab at the University of Bristol, but no one questioned it because of its initial success. But even if his days had been numbered, this didnt necessarily justify what Macchiarini put him through. The Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. Macchiarinis argument that KI fully supported and encouraged the surgeries likely swayed the judges as well, he says. Any replacement trachea must be rigid or itll collapse like a straw in a McDonalds milkshake, Dr. Genden said. Paolo dropped another bomb when he told Benita that, despite the fact that both of them had been divorced, Pope Francis would officiate at their wedding. Stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was accused of wrongdoing during operations on three people between 2011 and 2014. 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. 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. Brazil Does the heat of stem cell research the high levels of funding, prestige and media coverage it enjoys somehow encourage fraud? We will send you a maximum of two emails in, We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. WebIn reality, Paolo had not worked with the Pope, and he was still married to his wife of 30 years. 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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. Since this was radically new, Macchiarini and his colleagues should have tested it on animals first. Even so, it wasnt until 2016 that the Karolinska Institute declined to renew his contract. The theory was simple: let the body do most of the work. 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. Florida An advantage is that immunosuppressants are necessary only for several months, he said. 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. However, Swedish TV reporters also decided to take a close look at Macchiarinis work. But it was already too late. Emanuela Pecchia has been married to Paolo Macchiarini for over 30 years. The Karolinska Institute declined to comment for this article, noting only that Dr. Macchiarinis sentence may be appealed. 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. Keep up with your favorite shows delivered to your inbox! 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. She soon went into full-on investigative journalist mode, and learned that Paolo had, yup lied about everything. The couple had traveled a lot, but there were some things But colleagues suspected that Macchiarini was manipulating his results. He did this by chemically stripping away the cells of a windpipe taken from a deceased donor; he then seeded the bare scaffold with stem cells taken from Castillos own bone marrow. The case is pending. No one is more powerless than a patient with a disease, said Dr. Gerdin. Delaeres damning criticisms appeared in major medical journals, including the Lancet, but werent taken seriously by Karolinskas leadership. Look out for a message in your inbox in. 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. Thats what Macchiarini told his fiancee. US Capitol No one wanted to collaborate with me. All rights reserved. So far he has not been prosecuted in any of those countries. Its like when you get on a rocket ship., At times, he felt in a dreamlike state, he said.
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