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Glendora Starr
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.
Production wrapped a few months before the coronavirus outbreak began in China. Ironically, it was a relatively mild flu season in the United States, but even a mild flu season is enough to overwhelm Holly Goracke, the only doctor at a hospital in Jefferson County, Okla.
Pulse does not have a set release date as of this writing, which isn't too surprising. The show was announced in early 2024, and additional casting only came out in March, so it would be shocking for us to have a date so soon. We would be lucky if this show appeared on any 2024 TV schedule.
But, truthfully, that's a good thing. Netflix has many shows coming back in 2024, from the long-awaited Bridgerton Season 3, which will dive into Colin and Penelope's love story, to the final season of The Umbrella Academy, all the way to Cobra Kai Season 6. It would be hard to stand out in the ratings when so many great shows are returning.
Netflix also has a trend of canceling shows far too soon, like the fantasy show Shadow and Bone or the acclaimed Sense8. I'd rather Pulse get the light it deserves rather than fall in the rankings because medical dramas can be super successful.
Fitzgerald has appeared on several TV shows before, from which you might recognize her. Most recently, in 2023, she held a role in the popular Mike Flanagan TV show, The Fall of The House of Usher, where she played young Madeline Usher. Aside from that, she also has a primary role in the Reacher cast and held a central role in the Dare Me cast.
The actor appeared in various TV shows prior. He had a major part in one of the best Max original shows, The Flight Attendant, starred in the miniseries The Continental, was part of the main cast of The Purge, and was part of the main cast of Devious Maids.
The last cast member Tudum confirmed is Justina Machado (seen at the top of this article), who will play Natalie Cruz, a doctor who oversees both administration and medicine as the chair of surgery and emergency medicine.
The actress starred in the HBO series Six Feet Under and the great Latinx show, One Day at a Time, a reboot of the 1970s series of the same name. She's also appeared in shows like ER, Ugly Betty, Three Rivers, Superstore, Law & Order, and more.
If you're wondering what Pulse will be about, Tudum has you covered. It follows the lives of people working at the busiest Miami Level 1 trauma center, Maguire Hospital, but will mainly center on resident Danny Simms (Fitzgerald).
She is a third-year resident who suddenly finds herself promoted to chief resident after the fallout of her relationship. While she's a kind person who finds herself connecting with her patients on a deeper level, she faces her own issues that "complicate her upward trajectory."
Some of her significant credits you might have seen include writing and producing The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, and working on several episodes of Hawaii Five-0. Aside from that, she's also worked as a director on the shows MsLabelled and Odd Squad.
Dennis has worked on several television shows before, including another famous medical procedural, New Amsterdam, one of the best Hulu shows, The Handmaid's Tale, one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, GLOW, and many more.
A self-proclaimed nerd and lover of Game of Thrones\/A Song of Ice and Fire, Alexandra Ramos is a Content Producer at CinemaBlend. She first started off working in December 2020 as a Freelance Writer after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. She primarily works in features for movies, TV, and sometimes video games. (Please don't debate her on The Last of Us 2, it was amazing!) She is also the main person who runs both our daily newsletter, The CinemaBlend Daily, and our ReelBlend newsletter. "}), " -0-11/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Alexandra RamosSocial Links NavigationContent ProducerA self-proclaimed nerd and lover of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, Alexandra Ramos is a Content Producer at CinemaBlend. She first started off working in December 2020 as a Freelance Writer after graduating from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. She primarily works in features for movies, TV, and sometimes video games. (Please don't debate her on The Last of Us 2, it was amazing!) She is also the main person who runs both our daily newsletter, The CinemaBlend Daily, and our ReelBlend newsletter.
Netflix has seemingly been on a hunt to license popular movies and shows to add to its directory in the US. Especially with the rising popularity of anime shows and movies, it comes as no shock that the OTT giant is trying to add all the big names to its list to appeal to a broader audience.
Even though some of these shows and films were already available on Netflix in other countries, the US audience had to rely on other platforms, especially Crunchyroll, to get their fix. Netflix has been expanding its brand, and the next targets seem to be Jujutsu Kaisen and Dr. Stone.
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