Netflix‘s new documentary, Bad Surgeon: Love Under The Knife, follows the horrifying past of Paolo Macchiarini. The convicted surgeon went to prison for the deaths of three people between 2011 to 2014. He remains wed to a woman called Emanuela, who he tied the knot with in 1986.
Who is Paolo Macchiarini’s wife?
Paolo Macchiarini’s wife of 30 years is Emanuela Pecchia. Together, they have two children, a boy and a girl, but she has completely taken herself away from the spotlight since he had an affair.
The Italian woman is believed to still be married to Macchiarini, who has not filed for divorce, as per public records. Emanuela Pecchia lived only a short distance away from his mother.
When Macchiarini informed Alexander, during a dinner cruise later that summer – after proposing at Christmas – that his divorce had finally come through, he gave her an engagement ring.
Wife of 30 years unknown to ex-fiancee
The surgeon had an affair with Benita Alexander, who turned her experience as a survivor of love fraud into a mission to help other victims. She got married in 2012, to husband Edson Jeune.
Macchiarini and Alexander were making plans for their wedding day, such as inviting top guests like Barack Obama and Elton John, and The Pope officiating – but the religious leader wasn’t in the country.
After finding this out, Alexander had her suspicions. She was tipped off by a friend that the Pope was not even in the country and she started to question his practices, before finding out he was married.
Alexander went to Spain with her friends to confront Macchiarini about all his lies on the day that was supposed to be their wedding day. She stayed in the car while friends talked to Macchiarini and his wife.
She then messaged the Karolinska Institute where Macchiarini had been working about his professional practices and after thorough investigations, he was dismissed from the institute and charged in court.
Bad Surgeon: Love Under The Knife star in jail
Paolo Macchiarini is currently serving a two and a half-year prison sentence in a Swedish prison after he was sentenced following procedures on three people between 2011 and 2014.
He initially had been sentenced to no prison time by a lower court. Macchiarini was cleared of two of three aggravated assault charges at the time. But he was given a suspended sentence for the third, which means his sentence is not carried out behind bars. Swedish police charged him with manslaughter, but the case was soon dropped due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
However, in 2023, the Svea Court of Appeal concluded there were no emergency situations among two of the three patients who later died, while the procedure on the third could not be justified.
He denied any wrongdoing and has maintained his innocence.
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