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The next installment of the Wondery podcast series Dr. Death explores how Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini manipulated his patients and performed experimental surgeries on them without their consent.
Season 3 of the podcast, titled Dr. Death: Miracle Man, features interviews between host Laura Beil and television producer Benita Alexander, who fell in love with Macchiarini while reporting on him for a news segment and eventually got engaged to him. Their relationship was documented in a 2016 Vanity Fair article, where Alexander equated their affair to a scam. (Among other things, Macchiarini falsely claimed that the couple had been blessed by Pope Francis himself and that he would officiate their wedding.)
In their interviews, Alexander explains to Beil how she eventually learned about Macchiarini’s deceit and his unethical practices on his patients, which ultimately resulted in at least seven fatalities.
“Whoever said ‘love is blind’ wasn’t kidding,” Alexander says.
Dr. Death: Miracle Man premieres August 16th on Apple Podcasts; Wondery+ subscribers can listen to the season ad-free starting August 2nd.
