Doctors who treated the Maradona football legend before their death went to homicide trial

Buenos Aires – Seven medical team members treated the great Argentine football Diego Maradona before his death is judged by homicide from Tuesday in Buenos Aires.

The case revolves around accusations that negligence on the part of health professionals contributed to the World Cup winner Death in 2020 at the age of 60, who triggered an effusion of pain in His native Argentina And around the world.

Maradona suffered a heart attack in her rented house in Tigre, a rich district north of the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, where she had been recovering from surgery to eliminate a blood clot in her brain weeks before.

Widely perceived as one of the best players in sport, Maradona Famous led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup and inspired his compatriots with a history of rags to wealth that jumped him from poverty on the hard outs of Buenos Aires to international reverence.

Maradona had had problems with drug addiction, obesity and alcoholism for decades, and according to reports was close to death in 2000 and 2004. But prosecutors concluded that, who, who concluded that, which concluded that prosecutors. Wasn’t it for the negligence of his doctors? – His death could have been avoided.

Seven of the eight medical professionals who have been accused in the case, including the brain surgeon of Maradona, psychiatrist and nurses, They are now judged by guilty homicideA crime approximately in accordance with involuntary homicide.

Negan irregularities, but could face up to 25 years in prison. A court of three judges will meet in the leafy suburb of Buenos Aires in San Isidro to listen to arguments about the case on Tuesday.

Who is in trial?

Maradona’s neurologist, Leopoldo Luque, served as Maradona’s personal doctor for years and performed the surgery that the brain blood clot took on November 3, 2020.

Luque Supervise the hospital transition to Maradona’s house after surgery. The fast download raised questions at that time, and some experts suggested that Maradona should have stayed longer in the hospital after their operation.

Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov had prescribed Maradona’s medications. There were no alcohol or illegal drugs detected in the toxicology test carried out after Maradona’s death. But the report says that Maradona had psychotropic drugs for anxiety and depression in his system when he died.

The other five defendants include: Carlos Díaz, an addiction specialist who had supervised Maradona’s treatment for alcohol dependence; Nancy Forlini, a doctor who had helped manage the home care of Maradona; Mariano Perroni, Nursing Coordinator; Ricardo Almirón, another nurse who attended the former athlete and Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, a clinical doctor.

A third nurse, Gisela Dahiana Madrid, has asked that the jury be tried separately at a later date.

How did these accusations arise?

The prosecutor gathered a medical board composed of a dozen experts, including forensic doctors, cardiologists, psychiatrists and toxicologists, to see if there was evidence that Maradona’s doctors committed guilty homicide.

In an explosive report of 2021, the Board accused the medical team of the football star act in an “inappropriate, poor and reckless” way.

“The domestic confinement did not comply with the rules and protocols,” the report said.

The experts also questioned why Maradona had been released as soon from the hospital after their operation when he could not take care of himself and had limited or zero access to critical medical devices, such as an oxygen tube and a defibrillator, which manages an electric shock to restore heart rate.

The failure of the properly monitoring team to Maradona contributed to his death, the determined panel, describing its treatment frightened by “deficiencies and irregularities.”

For example, according to the report, doctors ignored the “swelling of the unusual body” of Maradona, a sign of possible heart failure. Maradona agonized for more than 12 hours before his heart attack, added the panel. Exacerbating concerns, Maradona had not undergone any heart or laboratory test in the two weeks that led to their death.

To present its case, the Prosecutor’s Office will present more than 120,000 messages and audio recordings of private conversations between doctors and others involved in Maradona’s care.

What do the defendants say?

The eight medical professionals deny any irregularity. They described Maradona as a difficult patient who resisted treatment.

“Death occurred unexpectedly, suddenly, during sleep hours, without offering us any time,” said Luque, the neurologist. In response to the report of the condemnatory medical panel, The defense commissioned his own forensic study To support his statement that Maradona’s death “was sudden and without agony.”

Luque emphasized that it was Maradona himself who insisted on hospitalization at home.

How were Maradona’s last days?

Maradona was isolated during the heoping of the coronavirus pandemic, since his chronic health problems made him more vulnerable to infected and more likely that he gets sick severely.

The isolation unleashed depression and anxiety for superstar in early 2020, according to hundreds of pages of judicial documents reviewed by Associated Press. Maradona turned to alcohol, a vice that had long played a role in his problematic legacy.

As Maradona’s trusted doctor, Luque performed a series of medical tests and discovered a subdural hematoma or brain bleeding. After receiving emergency surgery, Maradona left the hospital and went to a rented house near her older daughters. The doctors encouraged him to seek treatment for alcoholism in a clinic, but Maradona would not accept anything more than outpatient attention.

How will the trial proceed?

The trial is expected to last until July, with at least three planned audiences every week. The day of the inauguration of the trial, the prosecutors will read the accusation before the testimony of the witnesses begins.

After more than three months and about 110 witnesses, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Defense will make their cases and the court will establish a date for a verdict. None of the defendants are probable to be arrested before or during the trial.