'Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife': Where is Paolo Macchiarini now? Surgeon sentenced to prison for fatal trachea transplants
SPAIN: Netflix's upcoming docu-series 'Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife' is set to premiere on November 29 and is based on Dr Paolo Macchiarini.
The forthcoming series will revolve around disgraced Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini who was accused of causing bodily harm to his patients during experimental windpipe transplants.
For those unversed, Macchiarini was convicted of research-related crimes in both Sweden as well as Italy.
As per Distractify, he didn't serve jail time as the Swedish District Court didn't believe that he would harm his patients intentionally.
Paolo always declined the claims of wrongdoings and mentioned that he was just trying his best to help out the patients who were facing difficulties in breathing.
According to a report by Science.org, Macchiarini was not found guilty of aggravated assault in June 2022.
Apart from this, he was convicted on one count of "causing bodily harm," but he was granted a suspension of only a couple of years which has yet to be imposed.
Dr Paolo Macchiarini is currently out of jail and living in Spain.
Let's find out what the convicted surgeon Paolo Macchiarini did.
What did Dr Paolo Macchiarini do?
As per BBC, Paolo's research about windpipe transplants was full of falsified claims. His experimental windpipe transplants led to harming patients, resulting in legal repercussions.
Three of his patients in Sweden died. All of them were given transplants at the Karolinska Hospital.
A graduate student from Eritrea, Andemariam Beyene, received the first transplant in 2011 and he died two and a half years later due to infections.
Christopher Lyles from the US had a synthetic trachea transplant in 2011 and he died within a few months.
Yesim Cetir's operation took place in 2011 and she died in 2017.
A look at Dr Paolo Macchiarini's medical career
Macchiarini was born on August 22, 1958, in Basel, Switzerland. He received his medical degree from the University of Pisa in 1986. Nearly 5 years later, he obtained a Master of Surgery certification.
Later on, he went on to become a thoracic surgeon and was appointed head of thoracic and vascular surgery at Heidehaus Hanover Hospital from 1999 to 2004.
Then, he worked as an investigator for the Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques-Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas in Barcelona, Spain, for 3 years from 2006 to 2009.
Paolo ended up becoming a part-time surgeon in 2010. Around the same time, he was also appointed as a visiting professor at the Karolinska Institute (KI) in Stockholm.
At that point, he was seen as a trailblazing doctor. His involvement with Karloinska was a big deal in itself as the renowned institute handed out the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
His career took a turn when he began researching about development of synthetic windpipes injected with stem cells for use in transplants.
Dr Paolo Macchiarini is the subject of 'Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife'
Netflix's forthcoming docu-series 'Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife' chronicles Paolo Macchiarini's life.
The three-part documentary will show the rise and downfall of the world-famous surgeon Paolo Macchiarini.
Through the series, the viewers will get to take a closer look at the Italian doctor's personal and professional life.
'Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife' is set to drop on November 29 on Netflix.