Dr. Paolo Macchiarini looks on during a press conference on July 30, 2010.Photo:Lorenzo Galassi/AP
Lorenzo Galassi/AP
Paolo Macchiariniwas famous, then became infamous.
The disgraced Swiss-born surgeon was celebrated for his development of artificial replacement tracheas, which he implanted in patients along with their own stem cells. A medicine and media darling, Macchiarini, now 65, charmed NBC News producer Benita Alexander, who was covering his windpipe procedures for a special calledLeap of Faith.
According to Alexander, she fell madly in love with Macchiarini thanks to his generous spending on trips and gifts, as well as his compassion for her as she coped with her then-husband’s brain cancer diagnosis. He also regaled her with stories of his celebrity patients, who he claimed included everyone fromPope Francisto then-President Barack ObamaandBillandHillary Clinton. They planned a lavish wedding and a future together.
All the while, many of Macchiarini’s patients were dying, his colleagues were suspicious of his research methods and he’d been married for decades.
Macchiarini’s scandals are the subject of the new NetflixdocuseriesBad Surgeon: Love Under the Knifeand Peacock’s upcomingDr. Deathseason 2, starringMandy Mooreas Alexander andÉdgar Ramírezas Macchiarini.
Find out where Paolo Macchiarini and Benita Alexander are now.
What did Paolo Macchiarini do?
Paolo Macchiarini in ‘Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife’.Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
Macchiarini developed the world’s first artificial windpipe in 2011 using a plastic replica of a trachea that was soaked in a patient’s stem cells to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted replacement organ, perThe New York Times.
Working with Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, Macchiarini became a star — but several of his patients ended up dying,according to biomedical researcher Leonid Schneider, and many more had complications following their procedures, which he performed in Sweden, Italy, Russia, Spain and the United States. What’s more,The Guardianreportedthat Macchiarini didn’t perform any safety reviews, animal tests or trials on his artificial tracheas before transplanting them into living human beings. Macchiarini and his team also allegedly never sought a government permit for the artificial windpipes, chemicals or stem cells used in the transplants, nor did they submit the procedure for approval from Stockholm’s ethical review board.
One of Macchiarini’s surviving patients, Yesim Cetir, was reportedly in an intensive care unit at the Karolinska University Hospital for three years and had to undergo nearly 200 surgeries, according toThe New York Times. Two separate investigations from the Karolinska Institute and the Karolinska University Hospital showed that Macchiarini’s patient deaths and complications may have been covered up deliberately, and several of Macchiarini’s peersaccused him of research misconduct.
The Karolinska University Hospital ended Macchiarini’s contract in 2013, but hereportedlyremained affiliated with the Karolinska Institute until 2016.
Macchiarini was also accused of exaggerating on his C.V., including claiming he’d been a “full professor” at the University of Pisa in Italy and Germany’s Hannover Medical School when he had only associate and adjunct credentials. He also reportedly claimed that he did a thoracic surgery fellowship and earned a master’s of biostatistics from the University of Birmingham in Alabama.According toVanity Fair, Macchiarini only had a six-month non-surgical fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Birmingham, not the 36 months required for a full clinical fellowship.
In 2019, Macchiarini wasalso sentencedto 16 months in prison after an Italian court found him guilty of forging documents and abusing his office, though the Supreme Court overturned this conviction.
Who is Benita Alexander?
Investigation Discovery
Alexander quit her job at NBC News in May 2015 and withdrew her daughter from her school ahead of their move to Europe for her to be with Macchiarini, Alexander recalled toVanity Fair. The next day, one of Alexander’s friends emailed her a link to an article about Pope Francis visiting South America that July, when he was supposed to be officiating her and Macchiarini’s wedding. When Alexander confronted Macchiarini about it, the surgeon tried to assure her that the Pontiff would end his South America jaunt early to perform their wedding ceremony, but she didn’t believe him.
Both the Vatican andBocelli’s wife, Veronica Berti, denied toVanity Fairthey’d ever had any involvement with Macchiarini or his hypothetical wedding to Alexander. Alexander hired a private investigator to look into Macchiarini and found that even the jewelry he’d gifted to her wasn’t real.
Alexander had two of her friends confront Macchiarini and his wife, Emanuela Pecchia, with whom he shares a son and a daughter, and the former producer said he wouldn’t make eye contact with them.
Where is Paolo Macchiarini now?
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini speaks during a press conference with his defense attorneys in Stockholm, Sweden on June 21, 2023.MAGNUS ANDERSSON/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP/Getty
MAGNUS ANDERSSON/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP/Getty
In June 2022, Macchiarini was cleared of two of three aggravated assault charges and given a suspended sentence for the third. Days later, Swedish prosecutors announced they’d appeal Macchiarini’s sentence,saying in a statement to the Associated Press, “In all cases, the interventions were contrary to science and best practice. It seems clear to me that these have been completely unlawful human experiments and the penalty should be a long prison sentence, given the nature of the crime and the high penal value.”
A year later, a Swedish court sentenced Macchiarini to 2.5 years behind bars. He and his attorney at the time initially said they’d appeal the decision, and Macchiarini maintains his innocence.
Since December 2023, 11 of Macchiarini’s research papers have been retracted, including four from medical journalThe Lancet.Vanity Fairreported in 2016 that at the time, it appeared he was still married to Pecchia.
Where is Benita Alexander now?
Today, Alexander calls herself a “love con expert” on herLinkedInand states that her mission is to raise awareness for being what she calls “love conned” and has spoken about her relationship with Macchiarini extensively.
Alexander was the subject of a prior documentary on Investigation Discovery titledHe Lied About Everythingand has been featured on20/20andThe Conon ABC, as well as theDr. Death season 3 podcastDr. Death: Miracle Manon Wondery and BBC’sOutlookpodcast. She served as a correspondent onDr. Ozand is currently the producer and showrunner of Investigation Discovery’sCrimes Gone Viral. She also serves as CEO of Berraca Productions, which includes her podcastBenita & The Berracas, which elevates the voices of women victims of fraud.
source: people.com
