Diego Maradona: Medical team that treated World Cup winner before his death go on trial for homicide

The case revolves around allegations that negligence by the healthcare professionals contributed to the World Cup winner’s death in 2020 at the age of 60, which triggered an outpouring of grief in his native Argentina and across the world.

Maradona suffered a heart attack at his rented house in Tigre, an affluent district north of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, where he had been recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain weeks earlier.

Widely perceived as one of the sport’s greatest players, Maradona famously led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup and inspired his compatriots with a rags-to-riches story that vaulted him from poverty in the outskirts of Buenos Aires to international reverence.

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

Seven of the eight medical professionals who have been charged in the case, including Maradona’s brain surgeon, psychiatrist and nurses, are now standing trial for culpable homicide, a crime roughly commensurate with involuntary manslaughter. They deny wrongdoing but could face up to 25 years in prison. A three-judge court will convene in the leafy Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro to hear arguments about the case on Tuesday.

Maradona’s neurologist, Leopoldo Luque, served as Maradona’s personal doctor for years and performed the surgery that removed his brain blood clot on November 3, 2020. Luque oversaw Maradona’s hospital-to-home transition after the surgery. The swift discharge raised questions at the time, with some experts suggesting that Maradona should have stayed longer in the hospital after his operation.

Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov had prescribed Maradona’s medications. There was no alcohol or illegal drugs detected in the toxicology test performed after Maradona’s death. But the report said Maradona had psychotropic drugs for anxiety and depression in his system when he died.

The five other defendants this week include: Carlos Diaz, an addiction specialist who had overseen Maradona’s treatment for alcohol dependency; Nancy Forlini, a doctor who had helped manage Maradona’s home care; Mariano Perroni, a nursing co-ordinator; Ricardo Almiron, another nurse who tended to the former athlete and Pedro Pablo Di Spagna, a clinical physician.

A third nurse, Gisela Dahiana Madrid, has asked to be tried separately by jury at a later date.

The prosecutor’s office assembled a medical board made up of a dozen experts - including forensic doctors, cardiologists, psychiatrists and toxicologists - to see if there was evidence of Maradona’s medics committing culpable homicide.