Former footballer Diego Maradona was “Abandoned to his fate” by the healthcare team who surrounded him shortly before his death, criticized an expert report made public on Friday April 30. The treatment “Inadequate, deficient and reckless” would have led to a slow agony of the former Argentine number ten, can we read in this same report.
In a 70-page document, the medical commission charged with investigating at the request of justice on the last hours of the star, determined that Diego Maradona “Began to die at least twelve hours before” to be found lifeless and endured a “Prolonged agony”. The report further specifies that “The signs of danger of death that he presented were ignored” and that the nursing care provided is “Marred by deficiencies and irregularities”.
At the end of November, the prosecution opened an investigation which seeks to determine a possible negligence or recklessness in the medical treatment administered to the footballer, who died of a heart problem on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60, alone in his residence in Tigre. , north of Buenos Aires.
The statements of two of the five daughters of the former captain of the Argentine team, Gianinna and Jana, who pointed to neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque as responsible for their father’s deteriorating state of health, had triggered legal proceedings.
“The treating medical team fully and completely considered the possibility of the patient’s fatal outcome, but remained absolutely indifferent to this issue, and did not change his behavior and his medical approach (…) and gave up to his fate “, the ex-captain of the Argentina selection, world champion 1986 in Mexico, still accuses the report.
The medical commission of 20 experts, including forensic pathologists who performed the autopsy and specialists from various medical disciplines, concludes that the former world champion “Would have had better chances of survival” if he had been hospitalized in an appropriate and multi-purpose care center.
Taking into account the clinical, clinico-psychiatric picture and the poor general condition, he should have continued his rehabilitation and interdisciplinary treatment in an appropriate institution.
“Things weren’t done right”
According to Leopoldo Luque, the accused neurosurgeon, Diego Maradona had insisted on leaving the hospital environment and refused to be taken to another care center. Experts believe that the former player of Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona “Was not in full use of his mental faculties, nor in a position to make decisions concerning his health” after his operation for a hematoma on his head in early November.
For the former spokesperson for Diego Maradona, Sebastian Sanchi, interviewed by Agence-France-Presse, “It is clear that the commission [médicale] says things weren’t done right “.
Seven people were indicted by the public prosecutor of San Isidro, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, in charge of the investigation: the neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, the psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, a psychologist, two nurses (a man and a woman) who were at the bedside of Diego Maradona, as well as the supervisor of these nurses and a doctor coordinating the hospitalization at home. In Argentina, the penalties for neglectful abandonment or manslaughter range from five to fifteen years in prison.
Separate legal proceedings are also underway regarding the legacy of the player disputed between these five children, his brothers and his last legal representative, Matias Morla.