Surgeon on trial over windpipe transplants

AN ITALIAN doctor who made headlines for pioneering windpipe surgery went on trial in Sweden yesterday, charged with assault for performing the experimental procedure.

Paolo Macchiarini, 63, won plaudits in 2011 after claiming to have performed the world’s first synthetic trachea transplants while a surgeon at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. The procedure was hailed as a breakthrough in regenerative medicine.

But allegations soon emerged that the risky procedure had been carried out on at least one individual who had not been critically ill at the time of the operation. Prosecutors listed the charges of “aggravated assault” against three patients. The Karolinska Institute has confirmed that the three individuals have since died. Macchiarini has denied being criminally responsible.

In 2013, the Karolinska hospital suspended all transplants and refused to extend Macchiarini’s contract as a surgeon.