The Macchiarini scandal claimed many of his powerful friends. As the home of the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, one of its ambitions is to create scientific celebrities. The procedure involved replacing a damaged trachea with a plastic replica that had been soaked in the patients stem cells. An alarmingly wide gap has grown between what we expect from stem cells and what they deliver. Over the years, this possibility has generated great excitement and a huge amount of research. Another was a Russian mother named Julia Tuulik, per BBC News. The Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. They reopened the case in 2020, this time charging Macchiarini on lesser counts of aggravated assault and severe bodily harm. This guy mutilated people., Between 2011 and 2014, Macchiarini implanted artificial windpipes in at least eight patients in Sweden, the United States, and Russia. His operation was on June 9, 2011, at the Karolinska University Hospital, where he received the upgraded plastic trachea made at University College London. Border crisis: Whats happening at the US-Mexico border? Hes clearly bright and has accomplishments, but he cant contain himself. 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. Unfortunately, though, she reportedly succumbed to her underlying disease in January of 2012. I cant do this anymore, Sonia Sein told herself, her family and her doctor. But even if his days had been numbered, this didnt necessarily justify what Macchiarini put him through. As per Called Experimenten (The Experiments), it argued convincingly that Macchiarinis artificial windpipes were not the life-saving wonders wed all been led to believe. 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. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini in Venice, Italy [Investigation Discovery]. Andrea Bocelli was to sing at the ceremony. 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. Macchiarinis argument that KI fully supported and encouraged the surgeries likely swayed the judges as well, he says. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Nearly all of those patients have died. Colleagues accused him of manipulating his results, even warning of the harm caused by these so-called regenerative windpipes. 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In September 2020, Swedish prosecutors announced charges against him for aggravated assault in connection to three surgeries that he had performed at the. The idea is that scientific progress is driven by the genius of a few. 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. The theory was simple: let the body do most of the work. In their view, he was grossly misrepresenting his results and the health of his patients. 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. Next month, she will turn 57. As of the time of that judgment, Macchiarini had not been prosecuted in other countries where he implanted his artificial windpipes, and it was unclear whether he was still practicing medicine, the Times adds. She would later discover that the woman in Barcelona had been living with Paolo for years, but that there were several other women in his life as well. As Grinnemo recalls, it nearly destroyed his career: I didnt receive any new grants. Abu Dhabi However, he eventually found out about his previous associations. Paolo Macchiarini was amazingly accomplished, stunningly successful, and fabulously rich. Theres a void in his personality that he seems to want to fill by conning more and more people.. 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. Even the jewelry he had given her was fake. They didnt. Sadly, she passed away soon after her second implant. But hes lost his reputation, and thats more important.. The couple had traveled extensively, but there were a In 2017, prosecutors in Sweden charged Macchiarini with manslaughter in connection with the three patients who had received transplants at KI in 2011 and 2012, all of whom had died: Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, a graduate student from Eritrea with a slow-growing cancer obstructing his windpipe; Christopher Lyles, a 30-year-old American with tracheal cancer; and Yesim Cetir, a teenager from Turkey whose trachea had been accidentally damaged during a previous surgery. Benita Alexander thought that she was living a real-life fairy tale when she met her fianc, Paolo Macchiarini. He opened and cleaned out the donors esophagus, laying it against Ms. Seins esophagus. Gerdin says the conviction on one count still shows that health care doesnt stand above the law. And because it was built from Castillos own cells, she didnt need to be on any risky immunosuppressant drugs. Guided by several mentors, he delved into research and animal experiments, developing a transplant approach. 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. (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.). After several weeks in recovery, she is home. Macchiarini had often boasted to Alexander of his famous friends. It would be a star-studded event. The nine-centimeter transplant replaced all but two centimeters of her trachea. He understood how difficult her life had become. In their view, Macchiarini was certainly engaged in clinical research. Dr. Delaere developed another innovative method, performed on nine patients so far: implanting a section of donor trachea in a patients forearm for weeks until it develops blood vessels and can replace part of the patients trachea. Talking about her spouse Benita Alexander wearing a wig as she tracked down Paolo in Barcelona [Investigation Discovery]. They also questioned whether Macchiarini had obtained proper ethical permission for the surgeries and challenged a paper describing animal experiments with the technique. Its enough to worry officials from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But according to reports, Paolo cheated on his Emanuela Pecchia. How climate change and forest management make wildfires harder to contain, Disparity in police response: Black Lives Matter protests and Capitol riot. The Karolinska Institute was seduced by Macchiarini, Gerdin told the newspaper. Ms. Seins trachea before, left, and her new transplanted trachea. One of these is the hype surrounding stem cells. 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. Other witnesses contradicted that, arguing that with Andemariams slow-growing cancer, minor surgeries and other treatments could have kept him alive. 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.. More than a decade ago, Macchiarini became a superstar in the field of medicine when he implanted the worlds first bioartificial windpipe, a plastic structure that used the patients stem cells to reduce the risk of organ rejection. Its like when you get on a rocket ship., At times, he felt in a dreamlike state, he said. The coronavirus pandemic will most likely create more cases because many Covid-19 patients have needed weeks on ventilators. But it did not work, and a court in Sweden has found him criminally liable for the harm inflicted on a patient. Despite having a wife and a family, Paolo was in a public affair with the internet star Benita Alexandra. Benita fell for Macchiarini while a producer for NBC, working on a story on him in 2013. His recovery put Macchiarini on the front page of the New York Times. Support for Macchiarini remained strong, even as his patients began to die. I Googled trachea transplant and Dr. Genden popped up. All rights reserved. They didnt even seek the approval of Stockholms ethical review board, which is based at Karolinska. That's when, Benita said, it hit her: She had given up a good job and spent $50,000 on a "bogus fantasy wedding" to a man who already had at least two families. Guided by a high-powered microscope, he used surgical thread half the diameter of a human hair. The grant ended in spring 2017. And difficult to jump off. We have, for example, a growing list of scientific celebrities who have committed major stem cell fraud. The only question was how long it would take weeks, months or a few years. They and their loved ones fall victim to false hope. All rights reserved. Wasnt something of this idea behind the special treatment Karolinska gave Macchiarini? 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. 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. Euan Ward reported from London, and Christina Anderson from Bastad, Sweden. He additionally claimed that former patients also included Bill and Hillary Clinton, and thenPresident Obama. Why dont the Electoral College and popular vote always match up? 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. When Macchiarini accused one of them, Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, of stealing his work in a grant application, Hamsten found him guilty. While many in Sweden expressed disappointment at what they saw as the leniency of the sentence, given that prosecutors had asked for five years in prison, the verdict nonetheless represented the culmination of a stunning fall from grace for a once high-flying surgeon. None have been forced to hold full and independent inquiries. She remained conscious and awake throughout most of them, but unable to breathe. About 11 centimeters (4 inches) long, one side curves like a halfpipe, composed of cartilage rings and ligaments. Does the heat of stem cell research the high levels of funding, prestige and media coverage it enjoys somehow encourage fraud? Indonesia Her ex-husband John was dying of cancer. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Paolo Macchiarini is exposed Reality struck Alexander's fantasy romance eight weeks before she was supposed to marry Macchiarini in 2015, when she received an email from a colleague with the subject line saying, "The Pope." Thats what our experience of medical research leads us to suspect. In the case of Cetir, he should have known the risk of complications was higher than the expected benefit, the judges ruled. Macchiarini is known for his research fraud and manipulative behavior. There he reinvented his technique. Thats something that was new to us, so we need to analyze that, Lundstrm-Kron says. He is still licensed to practice medicine in Europe. (The patient who survived had the implant removed.). 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. The other side is flat and mobile to move air to the lungs. Nor did they impress the institutes ethics council when Delaere lodged a formal complaint. 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.. And fooled almost everyone. Even so, it wasnt until 2016 that the Karolinska Institute declined to renew his contract. And it needs a blood supply to connect to the patients vascular system. Look out for a message in your inbox in. The apparent success of Ms. Seins operation is also notable because the trachea field has been rocked for years by a sensational scandal. 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. They also cited a loophole known as compassionate use. In the He could see no real evidence that the windpipe scaffolds were becoming living, functioning airways in which case, they were destined to fail. Dr. Genden said Dr. Macchiarinis rise and fall profoundly affected his own path. 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. The couple has been married for 30 years now. A year later, he began to implant synthetic windpipes seeded with stem cells isolated from the patients own bone marrow, claiming the cells would grow and integrate with the patients tissue. 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. To some extent, they believed Macchiarini because he told them what they wanted to hear. 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. In September, a Swedish prosecutor indicted him on aggravated assault charges related to three trachea transplants. 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