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Researchers who raised the alarm about the surgeon Paolo Macchiarini’s research and then themselves were blamed in the Karolinska Institute’s review are now having their case heard in the European Court of Justice.
“The accusations against us are baseless, but we have not had to defend ourselves. We hope for redress in the European Court of Justice so that future whistleblowers are not punished in the same way as us,” says Professor Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, who is one of the accused researchers, in a press release from the Center for Justice, which represents the researchers.
The whistleblowers themselves participated in Macchiarini’s research and were judged to be reprehensible in the Karolinska Institute’s review. According to them, the decision has had serious consequences for their careers, without them being given an opportunity to respond to the accusations in a Swedish court.
The European Court of Justice now announces that it will examine whether Sweden has lived up to the European Convention’s requirements for effective protection against reprisals. In the spring of 2024, the government must respond to whether the protection lived up to the European Convention.
“It is important both for whistleblower protection in medical research and for patient safety in Sweden that this case be heard by the European Court of Justice,” says Alexander Ottosson, lawyer at the Center for Justice and representative for the whistleblowers.
According to Ottosson, it may take around two years before the European Court can issue a judgment in the case.
Macchiarini, who operated on synthetic tracheas on patients at Karolinska University Hospital, was sentenced in June by the Svea Court of Appeal to 2.5 years in prison for three counts of serious assault. He has appealed to the Supreme Court, which has not yet announced whether they will hear the case.