Maradona’s medical team could have saved his life, prosecutor says

The medical team for the football legend Diego Maradona was a “bunch of amateurs” who missed a chance to save his life, prosecutors in Argentina say at the start of a new trial over his death.

The trial of seven healthcare professionals accused of negligence in Maradona’s death resumed on Tuesday, nearly a year after the original proceedings collapsed when a presiding judge stepped down after appearing in a documentary about the case.

Maradona, considered one of the world’s greatest football players, died in November 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from surgery for a brain clot. His medical team is accused of gross negligence causing his death during his home convalescence.

Maradona’s former doctor Leopoldo Luque at a courthouse for a preliminary hearing in a trial over the footballer’s death in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]

The first trial was sensationally annulled after two and a half months of hearings after revelations that one of the judges took part in a clandestine documentary about the case.

Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari rounded on the accused at the start of the new trial.

He said Maradona was cared for by a “bunch of amateurs” who committed “all kinds of omissions”, resulting in conditions he described as “cruel”.

“Diego Maradona began to die 12 hours before his actual death. Anyone who thought to transfer him to a clinic in a car or ambulance during his last week would have saved his life,” Ferrari added.

Maradona died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema, a condition in which fluid accumulates in the lungs, two weeks after having surgery.

The larger-than-life former Boca Juniors and Napoli striker, who captained Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, had a history of cocaine and alcohol abuse.

Dalma Maradona, centre, daughter of Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, and his former partner, Veronica Ojeda, right, attend the hearing [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]

Justice for Diego

Maradona’s daughters, Dalma, Gianinna and Jana, as well as his former partner Veronica Ojeda were present in the packed courtroom in the northern Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro for the start of the proceedings.

Ojeda told reporters that she trusted in the judiciary to see that justice was served.

“That’s what we all need: justice for Diego. We want to live in peace and for Diego to rest in peace,” she said.

Outside the courthouse, about 50 people carrying Argentinian flags and signs demanded justice for “D10s” – a play on Maradona’s #10 jersey and “Dios”, the Spanish word for God.

Maradona’s fans gather outside the courthouse in San Isidro [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]

The new trial, which will finish in July at the earliest, will hear from about 120 witnesses.

The defendants – doctors, psychologists and nurses – are accused of homicide with possible intent by pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death over decisions they made regarding Maradona’s care.

That includes the decision to allow him to convalesce at home instead of in a hospital.

They risk prison terms of eight to 25 years if convicted.

Dalma and Gianinna Maradona’s lawyer Fernando Burlando displayed a stethoscope as a symbol of what he described as the medics’ negligence.

“This small instrument, so important to medicine, was never placed on Maradona’s chest between November 11 and 25,” the two weeks before his death, he said.

The accused argued that Maradona died of natural causes.

“The defence will prove that, unfortunately, Mr Maradona’s death is due to a progressive decline in his health that at a certain point reached its limit,” Vadim Mischanchuk, representing psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, said.

The death of the athlete, who was revered for his preternatural talent and charisma, plunged Argentina into mourning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people queued to bid farewell to him as his body lay in state at the presidential palace.