Eight medical staff to face trial over Maradona’s death
Eight medical personnel will stand trial for alleged criminal negligence in the death of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, a court ruling made public.
No date has been set for the trial of the staff over Maradona’s death in 2020, which prosecutors say was due to “omissions” by his caregivers who abandoned him “to his fate” during home hospitalization.
Maradona died aged 60 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot, and after decades of battles with cocaine and alcohol addictions.
He was found dead in bed two weeks after going under the knife, in a rented house in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood to where he was brought after being discharged from hospital.
A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor concluded last year that Maradona’s treatment was rife with “deficiencies and irregularities.”
It said the footballer “would have had a better chance of survival” with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.
The experts found his caregivers had abandoned the idolized player to his fate for a “prolonged, agonizing period” leading up to his death.
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Charged in the case are neurosurgeon and family doctor Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Diaz, medical coordinator Nancy Forlini and four others including two nurses.
Prosecutors had asked that the defendants be tried for negligent homicide, stating they “were the protagonists of an unprecedented, totally deficient and reckless hospitalization at home.”
They risk sentences ranging from eight to 25 years in prison. All have denied responsibility.