Nobel judges asked to resign over surgery scandal
September 6, 2016
The committee that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine has asked two jurors to step down over their involvement in the scandal surrounding disgraced surgeon Paolo Macchiarini (pictured above), the organization said Tuesday.
The Swedish Karolinska Institutet, which chooses the 50-strong jury, has said Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson and Anders Hamsten were implicated in an external review published the day before.
Hamsten has already resigned from Karolinska, and Wallberg was fired from her position as head of the Swedish Higher Education Authority on Monday.
The pair were actively involved in the recruiting of Macchiarini, the report said, and collaborated with the surgeon in his research. The probe also revealed that Wallberg and Hamsten faied to take prompt action when questions into the Italian doctor's practice emerged.
Life-saving surgery called into question
Macchiarini, a thoracic surgeon, was hired by the Karolinska Institutet in 2010. He became known for his pioneering transplant operations that used a patient's own stem cells to replace damaged windpipes.
When two of the three patients who underwent the procedure died, however, Macchiarini was placed under investigation for involuntary manslaughter and having falsified research to present the operation as more convincingly life-saving than it truly was.
The surgeon has consistently maintained his innocence, though since the investigation began, several discrepancies in his CV have come to light, according to the Karolinska Institutet. He was subsequently fired in March 2016.
He has also come under fire for false claims about his personal life. For example, Vanity Fair reported that he had claimed to have been given personal permission from Pope Francis to remarry after his divorce, something the Vatican has categorically denied.
Speaking with Swedish Radio, Karolinska's Nobel Assembly secretary, Thomas Perlmann, said that the committee had asked both Wallberg and Hamsten for their resignation and that they would play no role in deciding who would be awarded the upcoming prize.
The next winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine will be announced in October.