The seven people indicted for the death of Argentine footballer Diego Maradona in November 2020, so far accused of manslaughter, are now being prosecuted for intentional homicide, a judicial source said on Wednesday (May 19th). The prosecution therefore considers that the death of Mr. Maradona is not the result of professional misconduct or negligence on the part of the medical team, but that doctors and caregivers did nothing to prevent his death when it was this is clarified.
“After so much injustice, the circle has come full circle. The most important is the change from the charge to intentional homicide ”, told Agence France-Presse a member of the prosecution of San Isidro (in the suburbs of Buenos Aires), in charge of the investigation. This increase in charges is linked to the publication in early May of an expert report, which concluded that Mr. Maradona had been “Abandoned to his fate” by his healthcare team, whose treatment “Inadequate, deficient and reckless” led to slow agony.
Deficient and irregular care
“The signs of danger of death that he presented were ignored”, still estimated the twenty experts, including the forensic pathologists who performed the autopsy and several specialists, and the nursing care provided are “Marred by deficiencies and irregularities”. Mr Maradona, who suffered from kidney, liver and heart problems, died of a heart attack on November 25, 2020, weeks after undergoing brain surgery.
Among the seven people indicted by the public prosecutor of San Isidro are the neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, principal accused, the psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, a psychologist, two nurses who were at the bedside of Diego Maradona, as well as the supervisor of these nurses and a coordinating doctor for home hospitalization. As part of the reclassification of the facts, all face prison terms ranging from eight to twenty-five years.