Netflix’s ‘Bad Surgeon’

Just when we thought it was over with Dr. Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death, here we are pulled inside another horrific story of surgeon abuse, torture and death if not as bad as Dr. Death.

Who is Dr. Paolo Macchiarini?

Italian doctor Paolo Macchiarini, a celebrated thoracic surgeon who became famous for a groundbreaking transplant operation involving plastic windpipes (I mean what could go wrong…) infused with stem cells, became known as a pioneer of regenerative medicine. He was treated like a celebrity and lived lavishly, but a pattern was emerging: His patients kept dying after their transplant surgeries. Macchiarini suggested this was just the nature of such an experimental surgery, but as the deaths stacked up, nearly all of his transplant patients died, skeptics began to investigate him.

They uncovered evidence of misconduct, fraud, and manipulation. When journalists brought evidence to the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where Macchiarini worked, the institute negated the allegations and defended him. Hospitals and Institutes always defend their doctors of any wrong doing it seems to protect themselves.

Thankfully, nowadays with social medias and peoples being exposed, it’s getting harder to do. The Internet is a powerful tool and sharing what these people do is the best thing you can do, to prevent others from suffering the same fate as patients who lost their lives to these “famous” doctors. Eventually, the allegations landed him in the Swedish appeals court, where he was charged, with aggravated assault and bodily harm against his former patients. 

Dr. Paolo Macchiarini entered the lives of his patients like an answer to their most heartfelt prayers. To his patients, the Italian surgeon embodied a second chance at life through a first-of-its-kind synthetic trachea transplant. To his ex-fiancée Benita Alexander, he promised a fairytale romance completed with trips to Russia, Greece, the Bahamas and an Italian wedding to be officiated by Pope Francis…Yes, by Pope Francis. This liar also claimed to have had high profile patients like Obama, Clinton, etc. Everyone celebrities and high ranked people seemed to need surgery from this man!

“He fooled his patients very much the same way he fooled me,” says Alexander, who met Macchiarini in 2013 when she was in her 40s. The former NBC News producer was working on a special about regenerative medicine. “They were convinced that he was the greatest hope of their loved ones surviving. He made them believe that he could help them the way he made me believe that he loved me and that he loved my daughter, and he was going to take care of us for the rest of our lives.” “There’s a lot of gaslighting and brainwashing,” Alexander says. “It’s a slow, meticulous process. It’s not like he hits you over the head with these lies all at once. It’s a very cunning weaving of a web. Beginning in 2011, Macchiarini transplanted plastic tracheas seeded with his patients’ stem cells in at least eight people. He was seen as a pioneer who could extend the lives of those with damaged windpipes or were born without one. But the only patient who survived had their transplant removed.

As I watched the documentary, i couldn’t help but think that Mrs. Alexander was kind of a bit naive. In an email shared in Netflix’s docuseries, patient Yulia Tuulik writes of “rotting” after the surgery and smelling so badly that “people shudder away.” She died in 2014. Yesim Cetir underwent 191 surgeries following her transplant, experienced two strokes, and had to have her throat cleared every four hours every single day. I have no idea how this poor soul managed to survive this long of such an atrocity. Cetir died in 2017. While innovative medicine comes without guarantees, Macchiarini lied about his credentials and misrepresented his research. Yet, he still was able to perform surgeries on people.

Benita Alexander finally realize who Macchiarini was

After getting engaged Christmas 2013, Macchiarini told Alexander he wanted to plan their wedding on his own, as a romantic surprise to which Alexander had grown accustomed. But as the wedding date approached, Macchiarini would keep postponing the wedding. She had suspicions but lacked proof until a friend informed her the pope would be out of the country at the time of their nuptials. “At that moment, I just knew,” Alexander says. “All those little red flags that had been nagging at me exploded to the surface. But Macchiarini told Alexander that being a surgeon was his cover, and he was actually a sniper for the CIA…I mean come on…

Paolo Macchiarini implicated in 3 patients’ deaths

Macchiarini colleagues at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute expressed concern that the surgeon was misrepresenting the success of his procedures in 2014. Suspicion intensified in January 2016 when Vanity Fair published Alexander’s account of their romance. (This is why the internet is so powerful) That same month, a documentary, “The Experiments” revealed how Macchiarini patients declined after surgery. In 2022, Macchiarini was tried for causing bodily harm to three patients who received experimental transplants between 2011 and 2014. He was convicted on one count and received a suspended sentence. In June, a Swedish appeals court increased his sentence to two-and-a-half years, noting all three “could have lived for a not-insignificant amount of time without the interventions.”

Macchiarini protested, saying, “We did the transplant in good faith”. Filmmakers say Macchiarini declined comment on the allegations, and the documentary states he “has consistently denied any wrongdoing.” Of course because he is a narcissist. As the documentary points out, Macchiarini still has his medical license and can continue practicing. This means that he will continue to injure, maim, kill people until he is stopped and put away for good, from doing any more harm to anyone.

Benita Alexander: ‘I still believe in love’

Alexander’s encounter with Macchiarini during the original trial in 2022 and the subsequent appeals trial left a lasting impression. Coming in close contact with him, Alexander recalls, “We brushed within inches of each other, and every time he tried to look at me, I just looked the other way. That was my way of just saying, ‘Screw you. You don’t have any hold over me. You don’t mean anything to me, and I’m fine.’” It was a powerful moment of defiance, asserting her independence and strength in the face of adversity.

Alexander says she’s now “in a very serious relationship with a very lovely man.” She’s made conscious efforts to remain optimistic.

“I still believe in love,” she says. “I’m still a die-hard romantic, and that was very important to me because it was difficult enough to wrap my head around the fact that I had been fooled and duped. I just refuse to let him change me. I wasn’t going to give him that power as well.”

Watching the documentary, those patients believing in Dr. Macchiarini struggling to survive after the surgeries, suffering more than before the surgery and just ending up dying is very sad and heartbreaking to watch. I feel like we are giving these people too much power without even asking for their credentials. Why ? It seems to me that people don’t bother looking at those anymore and just believe whatever the person is telling them. In such an important and serious job you would think that it would be of the utmost importance to ask a surgeon for their credentials before even touching a patient.

I strongly suggest watching the series, it’s a very good documentary. Hopefully it will shed light and help future patients avoid this Dr. at all cost. If I had to choose between living 6 more months, or 3 months with this surgery, I think anyone would obviously pick 6 months. It’s really sad that we put our trust in such people with our own lives. We only have one life, our life is one of the most precious things we have and yet we have these doctors taking it away with false promises to cure us. Do yourself a favor and do some research on your surgeon and make sure you are in good hands before you put your trust, life and money into them.

What do you think should happen to this doctor ?