Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife

"Bad Surgeon" does one thing above all - shock.

Throughout the entire documentary, you ask yourself how Paolo Macchiarini was able to kill patients negligently for so long with a clear conscience and shamelessly lie to their faces, and how he was able to manipulate the people around him so that he was still highly praised for his "innovative medicine".

The picture of Paolo Macchiarini, who is nothing more than a narcissist who was completely indifferent to the lives of his patients, is painted very nicely here.

Even after his cruel deeds were exposed, Paolo was not aware of any guilt and always took the position that innovations in medicine would require sacrifices.

For my taste, however, they spent too long on Paolo's private life. Yes, it is certainly important to emphasize that Paolo not only deceived people in his job as a surgeon, but also lied to and manipulated people in his private life, but I don't need to know the entire course of his relationships for that.

However, other aspects, such as how Paolo achieved this high status in medicine or how he concealed and falsified everything, are neglected.

Nevertheless, the documentary series is good and serves its purpose.

9 stars for exposing this story.

This is a story about a man who is a sociopath, a highly skilled con man, who is also a surgeon. He has delusion of grandeur and his arrogance is off the scale. To summarize this all - he is mentally deviated.

Now, the main question is how his fellow surgeons and assistants and nurses and other staff had remained oblivious of the true nature of his surgeries. Not a word is said about stem cell collection and its subsequent application to the plastic tracheas. Stem cells collection is not a simple process. So was it done or not? Documentary is silent about it. That is why it is unclear how the entire team of medical professionals at Karolinska (and in Russia) went along with assisting the implantation of plastic tubes, as if they were operating on dummies, not living and breathing human beings. I refuse to believe they didn't know what was happening.

As for the women, nothing is new here.

Imagine a child who was taught by those around him to believe that who or what he is is unacceptable, repulsive and deserving of deep unrelenting shame. He fashioned for himself an alternate reality and alter ego where he is the hero, flawless and beyond reproach. Grossly overcompensating for his innate sense of defectiveness, his sole aim in life is to evade his belief that he is deeply unlovable by striving to achieve the adulation and recognition of others by all means necessary, even if it means costing lives and leaving a trail of destruction. One could say that Macchiarini is in a psychic prison of his own making, unable to break free from being a wretched automaton driven by his insatiable ego because he cannot stand to face his mistakes and therefore has to commit to his own con or risk utter obliteration.

There are millions of Paolo Macchiarinis walking amongst us. As much as this Paolo Macchiarini would love to think that he is an exceptional human being and just short of godliness, he is not. As egregious and intelligent as he was to make it as far as he did, he also had help from those around him who saw him as a fast ticket to fame and fortune. A Paolo Macchiarini who was not fatally shamed in childhood could have used his intellect for good. Instead he has destroyed lives and continues to live in his fantasy world. He might have only received a sentence of 30 months in prison, but he has already been sentenced to a lifetime of self-hatred and self-delusion. The documentary would have been more complete with a look into his formative years and testimonies from those who knew him before the ignominious events at the Karolinska Institute.

I feel horrible for these families . I also have personal experience with the bad docs . However - the laws are built to protect docs and patients go unheard .

There are many patients out there with silent voices who are alive but harmed in many ways with no one to compensate them for their loss. Laws need to change to better protect patients . This is why medical malpractice patient boards or groups exist . Very few lawyers are interested in malpractice law for a reason depending on the state . It's because they know it's an uphill battle with very money return for them .

I agree with another reviewer about other docs knowing what was happening and saying nothing . It wasn't only him .

Doctor Paolo Macchiarini has devised a new live changing, life saving surgery for people needing artificial windpipes, stem cell infused transplants, unfortunately all is not as it seems.

I'll be honest, I didn't exactly get captivated by the first twenty or so minutes of episode one, it seemed like it was going to be a domestic ding dong, however I'd urge you to stick with it, when the actual story breaks, it's a shocking watch.

Episode three was absolutely shocking, as was the operation on Julia, I found that video actually quite upsetting, what a monster.

I'm not quite sure how you'd describe Paolo, a sociopath perhaps? A man with a definite god complex, definitely a convincing and very dangerous man.

You have to feel sorry for his intended wife, although choosing a journalist wasn't perhaps the brightest move, Benita was always going to uncover the truth.

Very well made, and well put together, I liked that it was three episodes long, and that they didn't drag it out.

8/10.