Netflix’s three-part documentary Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife chronicles the life, lies, and botched surgeries of Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. The docuseries also explores how his ex-fiancée, Benita Alexander, exposed him.
Described as “the biggest conman in medical history,” Macchiarini performed eight experimental transplants between 2011 and 2014. However, seven of these patients died after their operations, reported Esquire. The Swiss-Italian surgeon, once known as a pioneer of stem cell medicine, was later accused of lying about his medical research.
Reportedly, in June 2022, a Swedish court convicted Macchiarini of causing bodily harm to a patient. He received a suspended sentence. The court later found him guilty of gross assault charges, increasing his sentence to two years and six months. Shortly after, his attorneys expressed their intention to appeal the verdict. However, it remains unclear when the disgraced surgeon will have to report to prison, per Bustle.
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini Now: What did the disgraced surgeon do & is he in prison?
According to Esquire, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was once considered a front-runner in stem cell medicine. In 2011, the surgeon even made international headlines for performing the world’s first-ever stem cell windpipe transplant in Sweden. As part of the “landmark” surgery, he transplanted a synthetic organ by giving a man a windpipe that was grown in a laboratory, with the graft supported by the patient’s own stem cells.
In total, Macchiarini performed eight such experimental transplants between 2011 and 2014. Three of these were at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute in 2011 and 2012 while the remaining five were in Russia. However, his miraculous work went downhill when seven of these patients, including the three from Sweden, died after their operations.
Bustle claimed that the renowned surgeon had been hiding the truths about the procedures, which were not working. Some of his colleagues even accused him of lying about his research and moving ahead with the complex procedure despite knowing the risks. The Karolinska Institute fired him in March 2016 for breaching medical ethics. He faced accusations that included falsifying his resume and misrepresenting his work.
The outlet reported that in 2017, Swedish prosecutors charged Macchiarini with manslaughter in connection with the three patients’ deaths. They later dropped the case, citing insufficient evidence to prove manslaughter, and reopened the case in 2020. This time, they charged him with aggravated assault and severe bodily harm. Prior to this, an Italian court had sentenced the accused to 16 months in prison for abuse of office and forging documents. But the Supreme Court acquitted him of all charges not long after.
Per the same Bustle report, in June 2022, Sweden’s Solna District Court handed him a suspended sentence on the severe bodily harm count. This “conditional” sentence did not require him to serve prison time. A year later, the Svea Court of Appeal convicted him on three counts of gross assault, proving that he “acted with criminal intent.” The court stated that the patients “could have lived for a not insignificant amount of time without the interventions.” Following this, a panel sentenced him to two years and six months in prison.
The Swedish Supreme Court upheld the verdict as well as the two-and-a-half-year sentence. However, the disgraced surgeon has not yet reported to prison.
Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife is now available to stream on Netflix.
