Maradona doctors on trial for his ‘murder’

Diego Maradona was described as a victim of ‘murder’ when the trial of seven members of his medical team began in Buenos Aires.

Former Argentinian football international Diego Maradona in 2016. Picture: AFP

Diego Maradona was described as a victim of “murder” when the trial of seven members of his medical team began in Buenos Aires.

Maradona died in November 2020, two weeks after surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. Prosecutors say a decision to allow him to leave hospital so soon led to his death at the age of 60.

The trial has raised extreme emotions in Argentina, where the footballer was regarded almost as a living god by millions. Outside the court, a large crowd gathered to shout insults at the defendants and their lawyers as they arrived for the preliminary hearing.

Opening the case, prosecutor Patricio Ferrari described the treatment that Maradona had received from his medical team as “calamitous”.

He said the defendants, including Maradona’s neurosurgeon and his psychiatrist, were part of “a group of improvisers”.

Fernando Burlando, a lawyer representing members of Maradona’s family, was more outspoken. “He was murdered. And for that task someone who is still hiding in the shadows called on a team of health professionals to kill him in a silent but equally cruel way,” he told journalists.

Two of Maradona’s daughters, Dalma and Giannina, both plaintiffs in the case, were in court.

The seven on trial are accused of culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter. All have pleaded not guilty. If convicted they face up to 25 years in prison. An eighth defendant, the nurse who found Maradona dead on November 25, 2020, has asked to be tried by jury separately.

Jana Maradona, daughter of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, leaves the courtroom in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Maradona battled obesity, alcoholism and cocaine addiction for decades. He died in his bed in a rented house in the Tigre district of Buenos Aires. The post-mortem attributed his death to “an acute lung oedema secondary to acute/chronic heart disease”.

Prosecutors say the medical team’s decision to allow Maradona to receive home care only two weeks after brain surgery was criminally irresponsible. One of the nurses at the Tigre house has previously said his superiors told him not to wake Maradona, even though he saw warning signs that his health was frail.

A medical board appointed to investigate Maradona’s death concluded in early 2021 that his medical team had acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner”.

Neurologist Leopoldo Luque performed the surgery that ­removed a brain blood clot and oversaw the footballer’s discharge from hospital. At the time, some experts suggested that he should have stayed longer under fully supervised medical care.

Regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time, Maradona led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup. The trial is expected to continue until July.

The Times