Blockbuster Trial in football icon Diego Maradona’s death starts

Maradona, who was 60, had a heart attack in a house in Argentina in which he had recovered from an operation to remove a blood clot on his brain weeks earlier.

The test, which is expected to last for months, charges the medical team with murder due to negligence. They have jointly rejected the claims.

Maradona had been struggling with drug addiction, obesity and alcoholism for decades and reportedly came to death in 2000 and 2004. But public prosecutors concluded that it was not for the negligence of his doctors, could have been avoided.

If convicted, each can get a prison sentence.

According to judicial documents, the neurologist and personal doctor of Maradona, Leopoldo Luque, first carried out the operation that removed his brain blood clot on November 3, 2020.

His quick release of the star from the hospital to the rental house, however, called for questions, where many wonder whether he should have stayed for longer.

No alcohol or illegal drugs was detected in the toxicological test performed after the death of Maradona. But the report said that Maradona had psychotropic drugs for fear and depression in his system when he died. Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov had prescribed Maradona’s recovery drugs.

The five other defendants are: Carlos Diaz, an addiction specialist who had supervised the treatment of Maradona for alcohol dependence; Nancy Forlini, a doctor who had helped Maradona’s home care; Mariano Perroni, a nursing coordinator; Ricardo Almirón, another nurse who took care of the former athlete and Pedro Pablo di Spagna, a clinical doctor.

A medical council that was appointed to investigate Maradona’s death at the beginning of 2021 that the medical team of the football star was acting in an “inappropriate, shortcoming and reckless way”.

In an explosive report of 2021, the board concluded: “The home restriction did not meet standards and protocols.”

The experts also wondered why Maradona was released from the hospital so quickly after his operation when he was unable to take care of himself and had limited or no access to critical medical devices, such as an oxygen tube and a defibrillator, who manages an electric shock to restore the heart rhythm.

However, the defendants described Maradona as a difficult patient who opposed treatment.

Neurologist Luque argues: “Death unexpectedly, suddenly, took place during sleep hours without offering us.” He also stated that it was Maradona itself that demanded in-home hospitalization and recovery.

More than 100 witnesses, including doctors and family members, will take the position that starts on 11 March in a trial that is expected to last four months in the suburb of Buenos Aires of San Isidro.

A court with three judges will hear arguments of the persecution, who present more than 120,000 messages and audio recordings from private conversations between those responsible for the well-being of Maradona, including his neurologist, psychiatrist and nurses.