DEATH BY DOCTOR

THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF STAN'S CHILLING SHOW ABOUT A DANGEROUS MEDIC

hen patients booked in to see Paolo Macchiarini, a surgeon whose reputation for innovation and skill was so great he was often called the 'Miracle Man, they were filled with excitement and hope. But instead of salvation, for many it was W the start of a horror story.

Macchiarini shot to prominence in 2008 for turning the dream of regenerative medicine into a reality when he created a new airway for a young woman from Barcelona. In a highly experimental procedure, he stripped away the cells of a windpipe taken from a deceased donor and seeded them with Claudia Castillo's own bone marrow.

Within weeks, she was reported to be back home living a seemingly normal life without the need for high-risk drugs like other transplant patients.

Macchiarini was hailed as a hero for fixing two big problems - lack of donors and organ rejection. He performed this surgery at least another eight times across the world over the next few years, claiming he was perfecting it as he went.