Swiss doctor inserted new tracheas in 8 people – 7 of them died after the operation. Truck leaves a kilometer-long trail of diesel fuel in the canton of Zug

Paolo Macchiarini’s ex-fiancée, Benita Alexander, plays the leading role in the documentary about the Basel-born doctor. She works as a journalist and met Macchiarini in 2013 while filming a TV report.

She tells the audience everything about Macchiarini: the surgeon whose future once seemed so promising. According to his own statements, he studied in Pisa and in Birmingham, Alabama. He subsequently conducted research and obtained his PhD in Besançon, France.

He operated on people all over the world: in the US, Great Britain, Russia and South Africa. In 2010, he was praised for allegedly discovering a groundbreaking new method of trachea transplantation. He used artificial tracheas on his patients whose tissue had grown from stem cells.

Years later it becomes clear that his method was not groundbreaking, but rather devastating for many of his patients. Because Macchiarini had clearly faked some of his transplant successes and research.

Last hope: Paolo Macchiarini

In the Netflix documentary, several relatives of patients also talk about their encounters with Macchiarini. Your deceased relatives had cancer or other incurable diseases. The forecasts made by other doctors were poor.

Only one person could give them hope: Paolo Macchiarini. Everyone paints the same picture of him: he was initially a charismatic and professional doctor.

American Chris Lyle was Macchiarini’s patient, and his mother and sister also appear in the documentary. Lyle had a tumor in his trachea.

While researching, his brother-in-law came across an ABC News article and contacted Macchiarini. He offered his help and operated on Chris Lyle in 2011 at the renowned Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. Lyle and his family were hopeful because, after all, the Karolinska Institute is one of the most prestigious medical universities in Europe and is also the headquarters of the Nobel Prize Committee.

Macchiarini inserted a plastic trachea into Lyle, which appeared to contain human stem cells. At first it seemed like the surgery was a success, but a few months after the treatment Lyle died. His mother and sister were in constant contact with Macchiarini after the operation.

“My throat is rotting”

The more the audience learns about Macchiarini, the more bizarre the story becomes. His ex-fiancée Benita Alexander explains that he would also treat Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and even Pope Francis, but that it was all top secret. Macchiarini also announced that the Pope himself would marry her.

Macchiarini could keep up appearances professionally. He traveled to Russia in 2012 and filmed a documentary about a transplant. He, the demigod in white, placed a new plastic trachea in Julia Tuulik. Tuulik was a young mother whose life was made difficult after an accident because her windpipe was damaged.

In the documentary about the doctor, the procedure was described as a success story. However, the reality was tragic. Before the documentary premiered, Tuulik wrote in a letter:

A few months after the operation, Tuulik also died. She and Lyle weren’t the only ones whose bodies rejected the artificial trachea: Between 2011 and 2014, Macchiarini had plastic tracheas inserted into at least eight patients. Many of them were terminally ill and alternative medicine was rarely available. Three of the operations took place at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Seven patients died, only one survived – his artificial trachea was removed.

So everything blew up

Macchiarini’s environment became skeptical. His colleagues at the Karolinska Institute questioned his research. Did he really do animal testing before he started putting artificial tracheas in people?

Some of his associates who appear in the Netflix documentary believe that his patients were his guinea pigs and that he had done poor or no research beforehand.

But according to several media reports, including the Aargauer Zeitung, the Karolinska Institute ignored the warnings of scientists and whistleblowers and later tried to cover up the fraud. It ultimately benefited from the publicity: the apparent successes were decisive for a $50 million donation from China.

In 2016, Macchiarini was finally exposed: his ex-fiance collaborated with Vanity Fair and detailed exclusive details. Vanity Fair headlined: “The Famous Surgeon Who Used Love, Money and the Pope to Defraud an NBC News Producer.” In German: “The star doctor who used love, money and the Pope to defraud an NBC producer.”

The judgement

Macchiarini’s house of cards fell apart, both professionally and privately. Because suddenly it became known that Macchiarini had not only lied to his patients, but had also lied and lied to several women. In addition to his ex-fiancée, Macchiarini also had a wife and daughter in Italy. Particularly explosive: his wife in Italy was the mother of a patient who was also operated on by Macchiarini and later died.

For people with a high sense of justice, the ending of the nerve-wracking Netflix documentary is satisfying: a court in Stockholm ruled in June 2023 that Macchiarini must serve two and a half years in prison for serious bodily harm. At least two of his patients could have lived longer without the transplants. In another patient, the procedure was ‘irresponsible’ despite the medical emergency.