Diego Maradona on March 7, 2020 at la Bombonera, the stadium of Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires. – Alejandro Pagni / AFP
Expected by a whole country, the expert report on the death of Diego Maradona, on November 25, 2020, was published this Friday. And he is extremely harsh on the caregivers who surrounded the Argentine football legend at the end of his life, completed alone at the age of 60, in his residence in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires.
In a 70-page document, the medical commission charged with investigating, at the request of justice, the last hours of the Pibe del Oro, determined that Maradona, victim of a heart problem, “began to die at least 12 hours before ”to be found lifeless and endured a“ prolonged period of agony ”.
“Ignored” “signs of danger of death”
“The treating medical team fully and completely considered the possibility of the patient’s fatal outcome, but remained absolutely indifferent to this question, and did not change his behavior and his medical approach”, accuses the same source, according to which the 1986 world champion was “abandoned to his fate”. The report further states that “the signs of danger to life he presented have been ignored” and that the nursing care provided is “tainted with deficiencies and irregularities”.
The statements of two of the five daughters of the ex-captain of the Argentina team, Gianinna (31 years old) and Jana (24 years old), who pointed out the neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque as responsible for the deterioration of the state of health of their father, had triggered the legal proceedings, at the origin of the investigation.
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 a better chance of survival” if he had been hospitalized in a hospital. appropriate and versatile 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”, insists the document.
Altered mental faculties
Experts said Diego Maradona “was not in full use of his mental faculties, nor able to make decisions about his health” after his operation for a bruise on his head in early November. According to his personal doctor, Leopoldo Luque, the ex-player of Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli had insisted on leaving the hospital environment and had refused to be taken to another care center.
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 pending regarding the legacy of the player disputed between his five children, his brothers and his last legal representative, Matias Morla.