Medics who treated soccer legend Maradona before his death go on trial for homicide
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Seven members of the medical team that treated Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona before his death will go on trial for homicide starting Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
The case revolves around allegations that negligence by the health care professionals contributed to the World Cup winner’s death in 2020 at the age of 60, which triggered an outpouring of grief in his native Argentina and across the world.
Maradona suffered a heart attack at his rented house in Tigre, an affluent district north of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, where he had been recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain weeks earlier.
Widely perceived as one of the sport’s greatest players, Maradona famously led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup and inspired his compatriots with a rags-to-riches story that vaulted him from poverty in the hardscrabble outskirts of Buenos Aires to international reverence.
Maradona had struggled with drug addiction, obesity and alcoholism for decades, and reportedly came close to death in 2000 and 2004. But prosecutors concluded that — were it not for the negligence of his doctors — his death could have been avoided.
Seven of the eight medical professionals who have been charged in the case, including Maradona’s brain surgeon, psychiatrist and nurses, are now standing trial for culpable homicide, a crime roughly commensurate with involuntary manslaughter.
They deny wrongdoing but could face up to 25 years in prison. A three-judge court will convene in the leafy Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro to hear arguments about the case on Tuesday.
Who is on trial?
Maradona’s neurologist, Leopoldo Luque, served as Maradona’s personal doctor for years and performed the surgery that removed his brain blood clot on Nov. 3, 2020.
Luque oversaw Maradona’s hospital-to-home transition after the surgery. The swift discharge raised questions at the time, with some experts suggesting that Maradona should have stayed longer in the hospital after his operation.
Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov had prescribed Maradona’s medications. There was no alcohol or illegal drugs detected in the toxicology test performed after Maradona’s death. But the report said Maradona had psychotropic drugs for anxiety and depression in his system when he died.
The five other defendants this week include: Carlos Diaz, an addiction specialist who had overseen Maradona’s treatment for alcohol dependency; Nancy Forlini, a doctor who had helped manage Maradona’s home care; Mariano Perroni, a nursing coordinator; Ricardo Almirón, another nurse who tended to the former athlete and Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, a clinical physician.
A third nurse, Gisela Dahiana Madrid, has asked to be tried separately by jury at a later date.
How did these accusations emerge?
The prosecutor’s office assembled a medical board made up of a dozen experts — including forensic doctors, cardiologists, psychiatrists and toxicologists — to see if there was evidence of Maradona’s medics committing culpable homicide.
In an explosive 2021 report, the board accused the soccer star’s medical team of acting in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner.”
“The home confinement did not comply with norms and protocols,” the report said.
The experts also questioned why Maradona had been released so soon from the hospital after his operation when he was unable to care for himself and had limited or no access to critical medical devices, like an oxygen tube and a defibrillator, which administers an electric shock to restore heart rhythm.
The team’s failure to properly monitor Maradona contributed to his death, the panel determined, describing his treatment as beset by “deficiencies and irregularities.”
For instance, the report said, medics overlooked Maradona’s “unusual body swelling,” a sign of possible heart failure. Maradona agonized for more than 12 hours before his heart attack, the panel added. Exacerbating concerns, Maradona had not undergone any heart or lab tests in the two weeks leading to his death.
To make its case, the prosecution will present more than 120,000 messages and audio recordings from private conversations between doctors and others involved in Maradona’s care.
What do the defendants say?
All eight medical professionals deny any wrongdoing. They described Maradona as a difficult patient who resisted treatment.
“The death occurred unexpectedly, suddenly, during sleeping hours, without offering us any time,” said Luque, the neurologist. In response to the damning medical panel report, the defense commissioned its own forensic study to support its claim that Maradona’s death “was sudden and without agony.”
Luque stressed that it was Maradona himself who insisted on home-hospitalization.
What were Maradona’s last days like?
Maradona secluded himself during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, as his chronic health problems made him more vulnerable to becoming infected and more likely to become severely ill.
The isolation unleashed depression and anxiety for the superstar in early 2020, according to hundreds of pages of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Maradona turned to alcohol, a vice that had long played a role in his troubled legacy.
As Maradona’s trusted doctor, Luque conducted a series of medical tests and discovered a subdural hematoma, or bleeding around the brain. After receiving emergency surgery, Maradona left the hospital and headed to a rented home near his older daughters. Doctors encouraged him to pursue treatment for his alcoholism at a clinic, but Maradona would accept nothing but outpatient care.
How will the trial proceed?
The trial is expected to last until July, with at least three hearings planned each week. On the opening day of the trial, prosecutors will read out the indictment before witness testimony begins.
After more than three months and some 110 witnesses, the prosecution and the defense will make their cases and the court will set a date for a verdict. None of the defendants are likely to be detained before or during the trial.