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Yamila Comejo
When Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife debuted on Netflix at the end of November, it quickly catapulted into the streaming service's Top 10 series. That shouldn't surprise anyone who caught the sordid, three-part docuseries about Dr. Paolo Macchiarini.
Bad Surgeon has it all: a sweeping romance, a wild con, and a true crime story with a subject whose charisma fooled some of the world's brightest surgeons. Told through the perspective of Benita Alexander, a former NBC news producer who covered and then fell in love with the man, there are plenty of jaw-dropping twists.
So, is it any wonder that Bad Surgeon is just the beginning of new projects devoted to this surreal story? Read on to learn more about the trending docuseries and where you can watch similar projects, including a new TV drama starring Mandy Moore.
Dr. Paolo Macchiarini is a 65-year-old Italian thoracic surgeon and regenerative medicine researcher who shot to fame for his reported lifesaving research with synthetic windpipe implants. He created polymer windpipes and soaked them in a solution of a patient's own stem cells before transplanting them.
He also speaks six languages and has claimed to be the doctor of famous public figures such as the Pope, Barack Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. For years, he worked at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, whose professors select the Nobel prize winner in physiology or medicine.
While the doctor's methods were reported as groundbreaking in 2011, they were eventually revealed to be completely unfounded. Macchiarini had never properly tested the trachea implants and was accused of fudging the research. Some claimed he used humans as Guinea pigs.
Macchiarini performed eight such transplants between 2011 and 2014. Seven of the people he performed surgeries on died shortly after receiving their transplants, including a two-year-old girl and a single father.
A woman named Yesim Cetir initially survived her transplant but had to undergo 191 surgeries, including one to remove the plastic tube. She also experienced two strokes and had to have her throat cleared every four to six hours. Eventually, in 2017, she also died.
In addition to all of the horrifying medical things that Macchiarini was accused of, Bad Surgeon peels back the layers of his personal deceits. Benita Alexander is the leading voice of the docuseries, and she doesn't pull any punches regarding the effects this man had on her life.
Alexander first realized not all was what it seemed when her fianc (yup, they were engaged) couldn't explain why the Pope was traveling the same month he had reportedly agreed to wed the couple. A whack of lies subsequently emerged, including a whole other secret family.
With the spell broken, Alexander went public with a 2016 Vanity Fair article. Others questioning the doctors' methods followed suit, exposing the reality of the situation. Macchiarini was eventually fired from the Karolinska Institute and went to court for his accused crimes.
Once word got out about this doctor, he was the subject of several news reports, documentaries, and podcasts. One of those podcasts was the Wondery podcast, which serves as inspiration for the second season of Peacock's Dr. Death, with the season titled Dr. Death: Miracle Man.
In the dramatized version of events, Mandy Moore plays Benita Alexander, and the show traces her love story with Macchiarini, played by dgar Ramrez. As anyone who has seen the Netflix doc or followed along with the real-life events knows, there is a lot to dramatize. However, the series takes some liberties, so even the most well-versed true crime lovers may be surprised at how some things play out.
The second season also has nothing to do with the first season of Dr. Death, which starred Joshua Jackson as surgeon Christopher Duntsch. That doctor was accused of routinely performing surgery while under the influence, paralyzing and killing some of his patients in the process.
Once you've finished watching Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife and Dr. Death: Miracle Man, you might want to stay on Peacock to check out Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman. That doc drops the same day as the scripted series and goes even more in-depth via interviews with people who worked alongside Macchiarini.
It was a long journey for the families of those who died after a Macchiarini surgery. The doctor was the subject of a yearlong investigation by Swedish police in 2016. At the time, they found that the doctor was negligent in four of the five cases they looked at because the devices and procedures he used were unfounded.
Finally, in 2022, new evidence coupled with support from people in more than five countries, resulted in Macchiarini's conviction of causing bodily harm. However, he was also acquitted on two similar charges.
This past summer, Macchiarini was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison, having been found guilty of aggravated assault against three former patients. Today, three of his research papers have been corrected, four are now marked with an expression of concern, and 11 have been retracted.
The Good Doctor was an American medical drama television series remake of the 2013 South Korean series of the same name that aired on ABC from September 25, 2017, to May 21, 2024, lasting seven seasons and 126 episodes. The series starred Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Christina Chang, Richard Schiff, Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Paige Spara, Noah Galvin and Bria Samon Henderson also star in the show. Nicholas Gonzalez, Antonia Thomas, Chuku Modu, Beau Garrett, Hill Harper, Tamlyn Tomita, Jasika Nicole, Osvaldo Benavides and Brandon Larracuente used to also star or had recurring roles in the show, but their characters were written out of the storyline as the series progressed. Modu, however, reprised his role in the sixth season and became a series regular once again in the seventh season.
Actor Daniel Dae Kim noticed the original series and bought the rights for his production company, he began adapting the series and, in 2015, eventually shopped it to CBS Television Studios. CBS decided against creating a pilot, but because Kim felt so strongly about the series, he bought back the rights from CBS. Eventually, Sony Pictures Television and Kim worked out a deal and brought on David Shore, creator of the Fox medical drama House, to develop the series.[1] The series received a put pilot commitment at ABC after a previous attempted series did not move forward at CBS Television Studios in 2015; The Good Doctor was ordered to series in May 2017. On October 3, 2017, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 18 episodes. The series is primarily filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. David Shore and Liz Friedman serve as co-showrunners and Daniel Dae Kim is an executive producer for the show. The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature, in association with production companies Shore Z Productions, 3AD, and Entermedia.
The series debuted on September 25, 2017. The Good Doctor has received generally mixed reviews from critics, who have praised Highmore's performance but criticized the series' storylines and its portrayal of autistic people. In April 2023, the series was renewed for a seventh season and premiered on February 20, 2024. It was later announced to be the final season.
The series follows Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgeon from the small city of Casper, Wyoming, where he had a troubled past. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.[2]
In May 2014, CBS Television Studios began development on an American remake of the hit South Korean medical drama Good Doctor with Daniel Dae Kim as producer. Kim explained the appeal of adapting the series as "something that can fit into a recognizable world with a breadth of characters that can be explored in the long run".[44] The story of an autistic pediatric surgeon was to be set in Boston, and projected to air in August 2015,[45][46] but CBS did not pick up the project, and it moved to Sony Pictures Television with a put pilot commitment from ABC in October 2016. The series was developed by David Shore who is credited as executive producer alongside Kim, Sebastian Lee and David Kim.[47] ABC officially ordered the series to pilot in January 2017.[48]
On May 11, 2017, ABC ordered to series as a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios,[49] and it was officially picked up for a season of 18 episodes on October 3, 2017.[50] On March 7, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a second season.[51] On February 5, 2019, during the TCA press tour, ABC renewed the series for a third season which premiered on September 23, 2019.[52][53][54] On February 10, 2020, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season which premiered on November 2, 2020.[55][56] On August 6, 2020, it was reported that the fourth season opener is set to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.[57] On May 3, 2021, ABC renewed the series for a fifth season which premiered on September 27, 2021.[58][59] On March 30, 2022, ABC renewed the series for a sixth season which premiered on October 3, 2022.[60][61] On May 13, 2022, executive producer Liz Friedman was promoted to co-showrunner alongside Shore for the sixth season.[62] On April 19, 2023, ABC renewed the series for a seventh season which premiered on February 20, 2024.[63][64] On January 11, 2024, it was announced that the seventh season will be its final season.[65]
On February 17, 2017, Antonia Thomas was cast as Dr. Claire Browne, a strong-willed and talented doctor who forms a special connection with Shaun.[8] A week later, Freddie Highmore was cast in the lead role as Dr. Shaun Murphy, an autistic surgeon, and Nicholas Gonzalez was cast as Dr. Neil Melendez, the supervisor of the hospital's surgical residents.[3] The next month, Chuku Modu was cast as resident Dr. Jared Kalu (originally Dr. Jared Unger);[11] Hill Harper as head of surgery Dr. Marcus Andrews (originally Dr. Horace Andrews); Irene Keng as resident Dr. Elle McLean;[15] and Richard Schiff was cast as Dr. Aaron Glassman (originally Dr. Ira Glassman), the hospital president and Shaun's mentor.[18][49] Schiff was shortly followed by Beau Garrett as hospital board member Jessica Preston and a friend of Dr. Glassman.[12] In September 2017, Tamlyn Tomita was promoted to the principal cast as Allegra Aoki.[20]
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